WWHOW  A  V* 


PREAT  MISSIONARIES 


OF 


THE  CHURCH 


BY 

THE  REV.  CHARLES  C.  CREEGAN,  D.D. 

.  AND 

MRS.  JOSEPHINE  A.  B.  GOOD.'.OW 

WITH   AN  INTRODUCTION   BY  THB 

REV.  FRANCIS  E.  CLARK,  D.D. 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE   UNITED   SOCIETY   OF  CHRISTIAN   ENDEAVOR 

UKIAH  PUBLIC  LIBRARt 

Cf< 


PUBLISHING  HOUSE  OF  THE 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  SOUTH 

BIGHAM  &  SMITH,  AGENTS 
NASHVILLE,  TENN.,  AND  DALLAS,  TEXAS 


COPYRIGHT,  1895, 
BY  THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  &  COMPANY. 


TYPOGRAPHY   BY  C.  J.   PETERS  &  SON, 
BOSTON. 


PREFACE. 


THE  admirable  Introduction  to  this  vol- 
ume, from  the  pen  of  my  friend,  the  Rev. 
Francis  E.  Clark,  D.D.,  makes  a  formal 
preface  unnecessary.  I  wish,  however,  to 
acknowledge  the  kindness  of  those  who 
have  made  this  book  possible  by  their 
timely  aid. 

My  best  thanks  are  due  to  the  proprie- 
tors of  that  excellent  Christian  paper,  The 
Congregationalistt  in  whose  columns  eight 
of  these  sketches  have  already  appeared, 
for  permission  to  republish  them,  together 
with  fifteen  others,  in  permanent  form.  As 
a  fitting  recognition  of  the  invaluable  aid  I 
have  received  from  Mrs.  Josephine  A.  B. 
Goodnow  of  Dubuque,  Iowa,  her  name 
has  been  placed  on  the  title  page. 


vi  PREFACE. 

I  have  also  received  valuable  assistance 
in  the  matter  of  data,  and  in  other  ways, 
from  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Logan,  late  missionary 
in  Micronesia;  Miss  Clementine  Butler, 
Newton  Centre,  Mass. ;  the  Rev.  James 
Mudge,  Lowell,  Mass.,  late  associate  of 
Bishop  Thoburn  in  India ;  the  Rev.  Ross 
Taylor,  New  York ;  and  Mr.  James  D. 
Creegan  of  Brooklyn. 

I  wish  also  to  acknowledge  many  cour- 
tesies from  the  publishers  at  whose  sug- 
gestion the  book  has  been  prepared,  and 
who  have,  through  their  artistic  and  me- 
chanical work,  left  nothing  to  be  desired. 

The  reader  will  miss  the  names  of  some 
famous  missionaries  of  this  century;  but 
the  plan  of  the  book  will  be  seen,  when  it 
is  observed  that  we  have  representatives 
from  seven  denominations  and  sixteen  mis- 
sion lands.  To  include  all  the  missionary 
heroes  of  our  time  would  require  several 
volumes, 


PREFACE.  Vll 

If  these  sketches  help  to  deepen  sym- 
pathy for  missions,  and  to  increase  gifts  to 
the  cause,  and  if  they  may  be  the  means  of 
leading  some  of  our  young  people  to 
follow  the  example  of  these  noble  men, 
who  have  given  their  all  to  build  up 
Christ's  Kingdom,  they  will  have  fully  an- 
swered the  purpose  for  which  they  are  now 
sent  forth. 

c.  c.  c. 

BIBLE  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK, 
May  10,  1895. 


INTRODUCTION. 


I  CAN  scarcely  conceive  of  a  more  useful  ^ 
book  for  young  people  to  own  and  study£     ** 
than  this  most  interesting  volume  of  mis- 
sionary biography. 

If  it  is  a  vitally  necessary  thing  for 
young  Christians  who  would  develop  the 
most  intelligent  type  of  religious  character 
to  know  the  lives  of  the  apostles  of  old, 
and  to  become  familiar  with  their  acts  as 
recorded  by  the  pen  of  inspiration,  it  is 
scarcely  less  important  that  they  should 
study  the  later  and  no  less  thrilling  acts  of 
later  apostles  of  the  church. 

In  this  volume  the  acts  of  the  apostles 
are  continued  in  graphic  and  interesting 
chapters.  Young  people  everywhere,  what- 
ever their  age  or  sex  (for  there  is  many  a 
young  man  and  woman  with  heart  fresh 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

and  unfurrowed,  though  the  brow  may  be 
wrinkled  by  three-score  years  and  ten), 
enjoy  stirring  adventures,  lively  incidents, 
and  heroic  stories. 

No  less  interesting  to  every  healthy 
mind  is  a  well-written  biograghy,  a  story 
which  tells  of  the  actual  hopes  and  fears 
and  joys  and  acts  of  a  living  man.  This 
volume  combines  the  excellences  of  the 
spirited  story  of  adventure,  and  the  graphic 
biography  of  real  men  and  women.  What 
more  happy  combination  could  be  found? 
The  biography  in  almost  every  case  is  a 
story  of  adventure  ;  the  story  of  adventure 
is  a  biography  —  a  life  history  of  some 
great  man  or  woman. 

After  having  taken  a  long  journey 
through  many  missionary  lands,  my  delib- 
erate and  often  recorded  opinion  has  been 
that,  if  we  seek  for  heroes  to-day,  we  will 
find  them,  for  the  most  part,  on  missionary 
soil.  Not  that  many  a  humble,  inconspicu- 
ous life  is  not  lived  most  heroically  at 
home.  I  would  not  belittle  with  a  single 
adjective  of  faint  praise  the  splendid  devo- 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

tion  of  humble  Christians.  But  if  we  are 
speaking  of  conspicuous  heroism,  of  lives 
which  God  has  marked  as  eminent  exam- 
ples to  the  world,  we  must  look  for  them 
very  largely  on  the  frontier  of  our  own 
land  where  our  home  missionaries  have 
gone,  or  in  the  dark  nations  of  the  world 
to  which  our  foreign  missionaries  are  carry- 
ing the  light  of  gospel  truth. 

I  am  glad  to  record  again  that  mission- 
ary work  in  all  the  various  Protestant 
denominations,  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
is,  in  my  eyes,  the  most  promising  and 
hopeful  feature  of  modern  civilization. 
For  the  enlargement  of  commerce,  for  the 
spread  of  civilization,  for  the  uplifting  of 
humanity,  for  the  redemption  of  the  world, 
there  is  no  such  force  as  that  which  is 
exerted  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  missionaries 
of  the  cross,  the  ministers  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

If  this  opinion  is  true  of  the  average 
missionary  to-day,  at  work  in  the  foreign 
field,  and  I  believe  it  is,  how  doubly  true 
is  it  of  the  great  missionaries  of  the 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

church,  Patteson  and  Carey  and  Nee-,ima 
and  Williams  and  Taylor  and  Livingstone. 

It  only  remains  to  be  said  that  this  most 
interesting  subject  is  treated  by  its  authors 
in  a  way  worthy  of  their  theme.  With  this 
book  in  his  hands,  no  one  can  say  that  mis- 
sionary biography  is  dull,  stale,  and  unin- 
teresting. No  one  will  yawn  over  insipid 
pages,  or  read  only  from  a  sense  of  duty 
these  charming  chapters.  If  more  light 
and  more  knowledge  are  the  great  pre- 
requisites for  larger  interests  and  larger 
gifts,  then  I  believe  that  this  volume  will 
do  not  a  little  to  kindle  to  a  brighter  flame 
the  interest  of  Christians  in  missionary 
themes. 

Already  the  fire  has  begun  to  blaze  in 
many  a  young  heart.  In  a  multitude  of 
young  people's  conventions  no  theme  to- 
day is  so  interesting  as  the  missionary 
theme.  No  subjects  so  stir  the  hearts 
and  quicken  the  pulses  of  a  host  of  young 
disciples  as  those  connected  with  the  win- 
ning of  the  world  to  Christ.  This  book 
will  supply  the  fire  of  enthusiasri  with  the 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

one  fuel  that  is  needed  —  the  fuel  of  in- 
formation. 

If  this  result  is  accomplished,  then  the 
missionary  treasuries  will  feel  the  influ- 
ence of  this  book.  To  some  extent  the 
mountainous  debt  should  be  scaled  down, 
and  the  treasuries,  refilled  as  this  volume 
goes  from  family  to  family  on  its  blessed 
mission  of  information  and  inspiration. 

FRANCIS  E.  CLARK. 
BOSTON,  April  8, 1895. 


CONTENTS. 


PREFACE    v 

INTRODUCTION ix 

WILLIAM  CAREY, 

Missionary  to  India 3 

JOSEPH  HARDY  NEESIMA, 

Missionary  to  Japan 17 

WILLIAM  BUTLER, 

Missionary  to  India  and  Mexico      ......       37 

ADONIRAM  JUDSON, 

Missionary  to  Burma 53 

JOHN  G.  PATON, 

Missionary  to  the  New  Hebrides ,       71 

ALEXANDER  M.  MACKAY, 

Missionary  to  Uganda ,     .    .    .      91 

ROBERT  MOFFAT, 

Missionary  to  Africa 109 

MARCUS  WHITMAN,  M.D., 

Missionary  to  Oregon 129 

DAVID  LIVINGSTONE, 

Missionary  and  Explorer  in  Africa 157 

xv 


TO 

ffouttjj  people  of  ©ur 

THIS  VOLUME 

IS    AFFECTIONATELY    DEDICATED. 


WILLIAM   CAREY, 

Missionary  to  India. 
BORN  AUG.  17,  1761;  DIED  JUNE  9,  1834. 


. 

WILLIAM  CAREY. 


WILLIAM  CAREY,  "  the  father  and  founder 
of  modern  missions,"  was  born  at  Paulers- 
bury,  Northamptonshire,  Eng.,  Aug.  17, 
1761.  It  is  believed  that  his  early  ances- 
tors were  of  considerable  social  prominence  ; 
yet  at  the  time  of  his  birth  his  father,  Ed- 
mund Carey,  was  a  journeyman  weaver 
with  a  moderate  income;  but  in  1767  he 
obtained  the  twofold  office  of  schoolmaster 
and  parish  clerk. 

William  was  taught  by  his  father,  and 
soon  began  an  eager  pursuit  for  knowl- 
edge, books  of  science,  history,  and  travel 
being  of  especial  interest  to  him.  When 
very  young  he  had  great  fondness  for 
botany,  and  many  were  the  specimens 
he  brought  home  as  a  result  of  quests 
amongst  the  lanes  and  haunts  of  Whittle- 
3 


4  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

bury  Forests.  Physical  ailments  unfitted 
him  for  outdoor  occupations ;  and  at  the 
age  of  seventeen  he  was  apprenticed  to 
a  shoemaker,  and  thus  linked,  says  Dr. 
George  Smith,  to  a  succession  of  scholars 
and  divines,  poets  and  critics,  reformers 
and  philanthropists,  who  have  used  the 
shoemaker's  life  to  become  illustrious. 

A  revolution  took  place  in  William  Ca- 
rey's life  at  his  eighteenth  year.  Though 
brought  up  as  a  strict  Churchman,  as  be- 
came the  son  of  the  parish  clerk,  he  had 
fallen,  through  association  with  dissolute 
companions,  into  error ;  but  owing  to  the 
efforts  of  a  fellow- workman,  he  became 
converted,  and  from  this  time  to  the  close 
of  his  life  he  was  a  devout  student  of  the 
Scriptures.  On  June  10,  1781,  he  married 
Dorothy  Plackett,  his  employer's  sister-in- 
law.  Mrs.  Carey  had  little  sympathy  with 
her  husband's  tastes,  but  he  always  treated 
her  with  noble  tenderness.  Domestic  and 
business  troubles  followed  him  closely.  In 
her  second  year  his  little  girl  was  taken 
from  him ;  he  himself  was  stricken  with 


WILLIAM  CAREY.  5 

fever ;  starvation  was  staring  him  in  the 
face,  when  his  brother,  only  a  youth,  came 
to  his  relief,  and,  with  the  aid  of  friends, 
secured  for  him  a  little  cottage  in  Pidding- 
ton,  where  Carey,  besides  continuing  his 
shoemaking,  opened  an  evening  school. 
Attending  the  meetings  of  the  association 
at  Olney,  Carey  met  the  future  secretary 
of  the  missionary  society,  Andrew  Fuller. 
As  a  result  of  this  meeting,  Carey  began 
to  exercise  his  gifts  as  a  preacher.  The 
Dissenters  in  his  native  village  soon  sent 
for  him  to  preach  for  them.  His  mother 
went  openly  to  hear  him,  and  declared  if 
he  lived  he  would  become  a  great  preacher ; 
his  father,  being  the  parish  clerk,  heard 
him  clandestinely  on  one  occasion,  and, 
though  a  reserved  man,  expressed  himself 
as  highly  gratified. 

Soon  after  Carey  united  with  the  church 
at  Olney,  and  was  by  that  body  formally 
set  apart  for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  A 
field  of  action  soon  offered  in  Moulton, 
where  he,  after  many  preliminaries,  was 
ordained  pastor  of  the  Baptist  church. 


6  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

Here  his  income  was  only  ten  pounds  per 
annum ;  and  after  failing  to  increase  it  by 
teaching,  he  resumed  his  shoemaking  in 
connection  with  the  ministry.  During  the 
time  of  his  pastorate  in  Moulton,  Mr. 
Carey  brooded  continually  over  the  con- 
dition of  the  world,  and  became  convinced 
that  the  spreading  of  Christianity  was  a 
responsibility  which  all  the  converted  ought 
to  assume. 

In  April,  1 789,  Carey  was  called  to  the 
pastorate  of  Harvey  Lane  Church  at  Leices- 
ter. Here  he  was  brought  into  associa- 
tion with  men  of  culture,  and  books  were 
freely  placed  at  his  disposal.  The  course 
of  events  was  now  rapidly  moving  toward 
the  formation  of  the  missionary  society. 
At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  association 
held  at  Nottingham,  Carey  was  one  of  the 
preachers.  He  chose  for  his  text  Isa.  liv. 
2,  3,  which  was  paraphrased  as  follows: 
"Expect  great  things  from  God,"  "At- 
tempt great  things  for  God."  The  impres- 
sion made  by  the  discourse  was  so  decided 
that  the  following  resolution  was  passed: 


WILLIAM  CAREY.  J 

"  That  against  the  next  meeting  at  Ket- 
tering,  a  plan  should  be  prepared  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  society  for  propa- 
gating the  gospel  among  the  heathen." 

The  meeting  was  duly  held  on  October 
2,  and  a  collection  of  thirteen  pounds 
made ;  so  the  great  missionary  enterprise 
was  duly  inaugurated.  At  this  time  a 
ship  surgeon,  John  Thomas,  who  had  been 
in  India,  and  had  preached  to  the  Hindus, 
had  just  returned  to  England,  and  was  try- 
ing to  establish  a  fund  in  London  for  a 
mission  to  Bengal.  Carey  suggested  that 
it  might  be  desirable  for  the  society  to 
co-operate,  and  a  resolution  was  passed 
to  send  Mr.  Thomas  and  Mr.  Carey  into 
India  as  missionaries.  Many  difficulties 
arose  before  their  final  departure,  June 
13,  1793,  when  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  and 
their  child,  Mr.  Carey  and  his  family,  con- 
sisting of  wife  and  three  children,  em- 
barked. After  a  voyage  of  five  months 
they  arrived  at  Calcutta,  November  9. 

Thomas's  knowledge  of  India  was  an 
advantage  to  Carey ;  but  his  lack  of  judg- 


8  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

ment,  and  the  debts  he  had  incurred  in  his 
residence  there,  estranged  from  the  mis- 
sionaries some  European  Christians  who 
had  otherwise  been  their  friends.  Calcutta 
being  found  too  expensive  as  a  place  of 
residence,  they  removed  to  Bandel  for  a 
time.  But  no  facilities  for  missionary  work 
were  afforded  them  there  ;  so  they  returned 
to  Calcutta,  where  they  underwent  vicissi- 
tudes of  all  kinds  until  June,  1794,  when 
Mr.  George  Udny,  at  Malda  (a  former 
friend  of  Mr.  Thomas),  offered  the  man- 
agement of  two  indigo  manufactories  re- 
spectively to  Carey  and  Thomas.  The 
factory  which  Carey  was  to  superintend 
was  at  Mudnabatty ;  and  besides  a  salary 
of  200  rupees  per  month,  he  was  promised 
a  commission  upon  the  sales.  Carey  at 
once  communicated  with  the  secretary  of 
the  society  that  he  should  not  need  more 
supplies,  and  expressed  the  hope  that  an- 
other mission  be  begun  elsewhere.  The 
duties  at  the  factory  allowed  time  for  the 
work  of  the  mission. 

Mr.  Carey  made   such   progress  in  the 


WILLIAM  CAREY. 


study  of  Bengalee  as  to  be  able  to  preach 
intelligibly  to  the  natives.  He  started  a 
school,  and  worked  vigorously  at  transla- 
tion. In  the  midst  of  his  great  work  he 
lost  his  little  son  Peter,  and  finally  was 
himself  prostrated  with  the  fever,  which 
lasted  several  months.  Carey  remained  in 
Mudnabatty  until  Jan.  10,  1800,  when,  with 
his  wife  and  four  children,  he  joined  a  lit- 
tle colony  of  missionaries,  who,  through  his 
influence,  had  come  to  India  and  settled  at 
Serampore,  a  little  village  founded  by  the 
Dutch  in  1755. 

The  missionaries  found  a  home  in  a  large 
house  in  the  middle  of  the  town,  purchased 
from  a  nephew  of  the  Danish  governor. 
They  lived  in  perfect  unity,  "  and  what  one 
had  was  another's,"  and  thus  began  the 
great  missionary  enterprise  at  Serampore. 
The  name  of  the  first  Hindu  convert  was 
Krishnu  Pal,  and  the  baptism  of  this  native 
was  a  most  memorable  scene.  Carey  going 
down  into  the  river,  taking  first  his  son 
Felix  and  baptizing  him,  using  English 
words ;  then  Krishnu  went  down  and  was 


10  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

baptized,  the  word:;  being  in  Bengalee. 
All  was  silence  and  attention.  The  gov- 
ernor could  not  restrain  his  tears,  and 
every  one  seemed  to  be  impressed  with 
the  solemnity  of  this  sacred  ordinance. 

Feb.  7,  1801,  saw  the  issuing  of  Carey's 
translation  of  the  New  Testament.  On  the 
completion  of  this  great  undertaking,  a 
special  meeting  was  convened  for  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  thanks  unto  God.  The 
publication  of  the  Bengalee  New  Testa- 
ment naturally  directed  attention  to  Mr. 
Carey.  The  eminent  scholarship  it  dis- 
closed pointed  him  out  at  once  as  the 
teacher  who  might  fittingly  occupy  the 
Bengalee  chair  in  the  government  college 
at  Fort  William.  His  first  position  was 
that  of  teacher  of  Bengalee,  afterwards  of 
Sanscrit  and  of  Mahratta,  with  a  salary 
of  ;£6oo  per  annum. 

From  teacher  he  became  professor.  As 
professor  of  the  three  Oriental  languages 
his  emoluments  rose  to  ,£15,000.  But  the 
whole  of  this  income,  with  the  exception 
of  some  ^40  needed  for  the  support  of 


WILLIAM  CAREY.  II 

his  family,  he  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
the  mission.  Carey  held  his  position 
of  professor  until  1830,  within  four  years 
of  his  death,  and  proved  himself  more  than 
equal  to  his  office,  winning  the  esteem  and 
affection  of  students  and  colleagues  alike. 
It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Seram- 
pore  labors  would  be  allowed  to  proceed 
without  political  interference.  Serious  dif- 
ficulties arose,  threatening  not  only  the 
existence  of  the  press,  but  of  the  mission 
itself.  As  the  time  drew  near  for  the  re- 
newal of  the  East  India  Company's  char- 
ter, the  friends  of  missions  directed  their 
efforts  toward  securing  the  introduction 
of  clauses  permitting  the  free  entrance  of 
missionaries  into  India,  and  liberty  to 
propagate  the  Christian  religion.  The  bill 
passed  the  Commons,  July  13,  and  was 
accepted  by  the  Lords,  arid  entrance  was 
granted. 

The  new  chapel  at  Calcutta  was  duly 
opened,  Jan.  i,  1809,  and  Carey  conducted 
the  week-day  services  there.  And  while  his 
professional  engagements  and  his  literary 


12  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

pursuits  detained  him  often  in  Serampore 
and  Calcutta,  yet  he  eagerly  seized  any  op- 
portunity that  arose  for  itinerating,  with 
a  view  to  extending  Christianity.  In  1807 
Mrs.  Carey  died,  having  long  suffered  from 
insanity ;  and  in  the  following  year  Carey 
married  Miss  Charlotte  Rumohr,  of  noble 
Danish  descent.  She  entered  heartily  into 
all  the  concerns  of  the  mission,  and  was  a 
great  help  to  her  husband  until  her  death, 
which  occurred  in  1820. 

Besides  translating  the  Bible  into  seven 
different  languages,  Mr.  Carey  wrote  gram- 
mars and  elementary  books  of  all  the  lan- 
guages he  had  acquired.  The  improvement 
upon  native  paper  for  press  purposes,  by 
manufacturing  it  so  as  to  be  proof  against 
destruction  by  insects,  was  an  immense 
advantage  gained  by  the  ingenuity  of 
the  missionaries,  and  the  importation  of 
a  steam-engine  of  twelve  horse-power  for 
working  their  paper-mill  was  a  striking 
evidence  of  the  enterprise  of  these  men. 

No  memoir  of  William  Carey  would  be 
complete  which  did  not  record  his  benevo- 


WILLIAM  CAREY.  13 

lent  endeavors  to  improve  the  social  con- 
dition of  the  natives  of  India.  The  first 
reform  he  helped  to  effect  was  the  prohibi- 
tion of  the  sacrifice  of  children  at  the  great 
annual  festival  at  Gunga  Sangor.  Another 
reform  to  which  Carey  gave  his  determined 
attention  was  the  abolition  of  burning  wid- 
ows on  the  pile  of  their  dead  husbands. 

The  benevolent  institutions  for  instruct- 
ing the  children  of  indigent  parents  origi- 
nated in  the  philanthropic  sympathies  of 
Carey ;  and  in  the  year  1817  no  less  than 
forty-five  schools  had  been  established.  A 
leper  hospital  was  founded,  and  a  vernacu- 
lar newspaper  published. 

Carey  possessed  in  not  a  few  branches 
of  natural  history  a  knowledge  so  scientific 
that  it  was  more  than  sufficient  to  com- 
mand respect.  His  practical  knowledge 
of  botany  and  agriculture  resulted  in  very 
material  benefit  to  India,  and  lays  that 
country  under  a  debt  of  obligation  which 
can  never  be  discharged.  In  1817  was 
begun  the  missionary  training  institute, 
which  afterwards  grew  to  a  college,  and 


14  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

was  placed  upon  the  same  basis  as  other 
colleges  of  Europe. 

For  forty-one  years  William  Carey  was 
spared  to  labor  for  the  good  of  India.  He 
outlived  nearly  all  who  were  associated 
with  him  in  his  prolonged  residence,  un- 
broken by  any  return  to  England.  He 
died  June  9,  1834. 

During  his  lifetime  Carey's  great  attain- 
ments called  forth  honorable  recognition. 
Brown  University  in  the  United  States  con- 
ferred upon  him  the  degree  of  D.D.  The 
Linnaean,  Horticultural,  and  Geological  So- 
cieties admitted  him  to  their  memberships; 
and  men  of  high  position,  such  as  the 
Marquis  of  Wellesley  and  Lord  Hastings, 
extolled  his  worth.  But  he  cared  little 
for  worldly  praise ;  his  great  desire  "  to 
be  useful  in  laying  the  foundation  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  India  "  was  surely  ac- 
complished, and  he  wished  for  "no  greater 
reward,"  "  no  higher  honor." 


JOSEPH  HARDY  NEE  SIM  A. 

BORN,  JAN.  14,  1843;  DIED,  JAN.  23,  1890, 


XL 

JOSEPH  HARDY  NEE  SIM  A. 

'  PERHAPS  no  single  private  life  can  better 
portray  genuine  Japanese  characteristics 
than  that  of  Joseph  Hardy  Neesima.  In 
1843,  ten  years  before  Commodore  Perry 
entered  the  Bay  of  Yedo,  he  was  born.  His 
father  served  a  prince  whose  palace  was  in 
the  city  of  Yedo. 

The  feudal  system  being  in  existence, 
boys  were  preferred  to  girls  in  the  fami- 
lies of  the  samurai,  as  male  heirs  alone 
could  perpetuate  their  rank  and  allowance. 
Four  girls  having  preceded  Neesima,  his 
grandfather  hearing  of  a  male  born  into 
the  family  cried  "Shimeta!"  an  exclama- 
tion of  joy  at  the  realization  of  some  long 
cherished  hope ;  and  the  boy  was  called 
Shimeta,  the  name  being  written  after 
Neesima,  as  is  usual  in  Japan, 


1 8  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

Neesima's  parents  were  Shintoists,  and 
in  his  fifth  year  Neesima  was  taken  to  the 
temple  of  the  god  supposed  to  be  his  life 
guardian  to  offer  thanks  for  his  protection. 
The  occasion  was  a  joyous  one,  and  Nee- 
sima was  as  gayly  dressed  as  the  heirs  of 
the  nobility  at  an  English  christening. 

Neesima's  father  was  a  teacher  of  pen- 
manship, and  many  pilgrimages  were  made 
to  the  temple  of  Japanese  hieroglyphics. 
Several  gods  were  kept  in  the  home,  to 
which  the  family  made  offerings.  Neesima 
worshipped  these  gods  until  he  was  fifteen 
years  of  age,  and  then,  seeing  they  did  not 
partake  of  the  food  provided  for  them,  re- 
fused to  do  so. 

At  an  early  age  he  developed  studious 
habits,  but  was  very  shy,  and  having  some 
slight  impediment  in  his  speech,  was  sent 
to  a  school  of  etiquette,  where  he  acquired 
graceful  manners  and  polite  conversational 
style.  He  was  selected  by  the  prince  to  at- 
tend a  military  school  which  had  been  es- 
tablished under  the  auspices  of  the  Shogun, 
but  later  he  gave  up  these  exercises  and 


JOSEPH  HARDY  NEESIMA.  19 

devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  Chinese 
classics.  Again  he  was  fortunate  in  being 
one  of  three  selected  to  take  lessons  in 
Dutch  from  a  native  teacher  called  by  the 
prince  to  the  court  to  teach  his  subjects. 
Afterwards  the  prince  promoted  Neesima 
to  the  position  of  assistant  teacher  in  a 
Chinese  school. 

Soon  after  this,  Neesima's  prince  and 
patron  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother,  a  man  of  inferior  education.  Nee- 
sima, now  fifteen  years  of  age,  was  obliged 
to  commence  service  to  the  prince,  his  busi- 
ness being  to  sit  in  a  little  office  connected 
with  the  front  end  of  the  castle  and  watch 
the  hall,  and,  with  other  youths,  to  bow 
profoundly  as  the  prince  went  out  or  came 
in,  and  to  pass  the  rest  of  the  time  in  gossip 
and  tea-drinking.  This  life  was  intolerable 
to  him,  and  he  often  planned  to  escape  it  by 
running  away  from  home  ;  but  love  of  fam- 
ily, a  strong  Japanese  characteristic,  kept 
him  under  his  father's  roof  until  he  was 
seventeen  years  of  age,  when  the  war  cloud 
caused  by  the  imperial  party  rising  against 


20  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

the  Shogun  threw  the  country  into  fearful 
commotion,  and  Neesima  was  chosen  as  a 
life-guard  to  his  prince.  While  thus  en- 
gaged he  pursued  his  studies  under  great 
difficulties,  but  always  with  untiring  persis- 
tency ;  and  he  was  allowed  time  to  go  to  the 
Shogun's  naval  school  for  lessons  in  mathe- 
matics. Here  one  day  he  caught  sight  of  a 
Dutch  warship  lying  at  anchor  in  Yedo 
Bay.  "This  dignified  sea  queen,"  com- 
pared with  the  "clumsy  disproportioned 
Japanese  junks,"  proved  an  "  object  lesson  " 
to  Neesima ;  and  there  was  born  within 
him  the  great  desire  for  the  improvement 
of  himself  and  his  country.  The  winter  of 
the  same  year  he  had  an  opportunity  to  go 
by  steamer  to  Tamashima.  This  was  his 
first  liberation  from  his  prince's  "  square 
enclosure,"  and  his  first  experience  with 
different  and  individual  ideas ;  his  horizon 
widened,  and  he  was  filled  with  new  desires 
for  freedom. 

Returning  to  Yedo,  and  sympathizing 
fully  with  the  "  imperial  party  "  yet  bound 
by  the  moral  code  of  Confucius  to  "  the 


JOSEPH  HARDY  NEESIMA.  21 

services  of  love  and  reverence  to  parents," 
Neesima  became  distrait  and  restless,  and 
his  life  might  have  been  entirely  perverted 
had  not  destiny  intervened.  In  being  asked 
of  the  formative  influences  of  his  life, 
Neesima,  looking  back  to  this  time,  might 
well  exclaim  with  Charles  Kingsley,  "  I 
had  a  friend."  This  "  friend"  had  a  small 
library,  and  among  the  books  proffered  for 
his  use  Neesima  found  a  Japanese  transla- 
tion of  Robinson  Crusoe,  and  among  several 
Chinese  books  an  historical  geography  of 
the  United  States  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bridgman 
of  the  North  China  Mission,  a  brief  His- 
tory of  the  World,  written  by  an  English 
missionary  in  China,  Dr.  Williams's  little 
magazines,  and  a  few  books  teaching  the 
Christian  religion,  and  published  at  Hong- 
Kong  or  Shanghai.  Speaking  of  these 
books,  Mr.  Neesima  in  later  life  said,  "  I 
read  them  with  close  attention.  I  was  partly 
a  sceptic,  and  partly  struck  with  reverential 
awe.  I  became  acquainted  with  the  name 
of  the  Creator  through  those  Dutch  books 
I  had  studied  before ;  but  it  never  came 


22  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

home  so  dear  to  my  heart  as  when  I  read 
the  simple  story  of  God's  creation  of  the 
universe  on  those  pages  of  a  brief  Chinese 
Bible  History.  I  found  out  that  the  world 
we  live  upon  was  created  by  his  unseen 
hand,  and  not  by  mere  chance.  I  discov- 
ered in  the  same  history  that  his  other 
name  was  the  '  Heavenly  Father,'  which 
created  in  me  more  reverence  towards  him, 
because  I  thought  he  was  more  to  me  than 
a  mere  Creator  of  the  world.  All  these 
books  helped  me  to  behold  a  Being,  some- 
what dimly  yet,  in  my  mental  eye,  who  was 
so  blindly  concealed  from  me  during  the 
first  two  decades  of  my  life." 

At  this  time  no  missionaries  were  allowed 
in  Japan.  So  Neesima,  recognizing  God  as 
the  only  father  to  whom  he  owed  life  fealty, 
determined  to  break  the  environments  of 
his  youth,  and  to  leave  temporarily  his 
home  and  country.  With  some  difficulty 
he  obtained  first  his  prince's,  then  his  pa- 
rents', sanction  to  leave  Yedo,  ostensibly  to 
go  to  Hakodate,  and  in  the  spring  of  1864 
went  thither.  Neesima,  always  thinking 


JOSEPH  HARDY  NEESIMA.  2$ 

of  his  country  and  its  conditions,  watched 
closely  the  people  of  Hakodate,  and,  pain- 
fully cognizant  of  their  corrupt  existence, 
determined  that  Japan  needed  moral  refor- 
mation more  than  mere  material  progress. 
His  desire  to  visit  a  foreign  land  he  con- 
fided to  a  Japanese  clerk  employed  by  an 
English  merchant.  This  friend  at  mid- 
night and  with  great  difficulty  conveyed 
Neesima  in  a  row-boat  alongside  an  Amer- 
ican vessel,  whose  kind-hearted  captain 
had  consented  to  take  the  Japanese  boy  as 
far  as  China.  At  Shanghai,  Neesima  was 
transferred  to  the  American  ship  Wild 
Rover,  whose  captain  employed  Neesima 
to  wait  upon  the  table ;  and  not  liking 
"  Shimeta,"  called  "  his  boy"  Joe,  and  was 
uniformly  kind  to  him.  After  a  four 
months'  voyage  the  ship  reached  Boston 
Harbor ;  and  through  the  kind  interest  of 
Captain  Taylor,  Neesima  was  introduced 
to  the  owner  of  the  Wild  Rover,  Mr.  Al- 
pheus  Hardy,  one  of  Boston's  noblest 
philanthropists. 

He  became  at  once   interested   in   the 


24  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

boy,  and,  with  Mrs.  Hardy,  assumed  the  re- 
sponsibility of  his  education.  In  September, 
1865,  he  entered  the  English  department 
of  Phillips  Academy,  Andover.  Here  he 
remained  until  1867,  when  his  benefactors 
sent  him  to  Amherst.  His  letters  during 
his  student  life  tell  of  frequent  illnesses, 
which  at  times  interfered  with  his  work,  of 
his  tramps  through  different  States  during 
vacation,  of  letters  from  his  Japanese  par- 
ents, of  his  anxiety  about  his  home  affairs 
during  the  rise  of  the  princes  against  the 
shogun  in  1868-1869,  of  his  growing 
spirituality,  and  of  his  heartfelt  gratitude 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hardy. 

In  a  letter  dated  March  21,  1871,  Neesi- 
ma  writes  that  he  met  in  Boston,  Mori,  the 
Japanese  minister  sent  to  Washington  by 
the  mikado.  Mr.  Mori  offered  to  reimburse 
Mr.  Hardy  for  Neesima's  educational  ex- 
penses, and  thereby  make  Neesima  subject 
to  Japanese  government.  Mr.  Hardy  at 
once  declined  the  proposition.  On  Sept. 
17,  1871,  Neesima  wrote  to  Mrs.  Hardy 
that  he  had  received  a  passport  from  the 


JOSEPH  HARDY  NEESIMA.  2$ 

Japanese  government,  and  that  from  the 
same  source  his  father  had  received  a  pa- 
per saying :  "It  is  permitted  by  the  gov- 
ernment to  Neesima  Shimeta  to  remain 
and  study  in  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica." In  1872  an  embassy  representing 
the  imperial  government  of  the  mikado 
visited  America  and  Europe  on  visits  of  in- 
quiry into  Western  civilization ;  and  Min- 
ister Mori  summoned  Mr.  Neesima  to 
Washington  to  meet  the  embassy,  and  to 
assist  Mr.  Tanaka,  the  commissioner  of  ed- 
ucation. In  this  way  Mr.  Neesima  became 
acquainted  with  the  most  progressive  men 
of  new  Japan,  whose  friendship  in  later 
years  was  of  great  value  to  him.  Fear- 
ing, however,  that  his  plan  to  return  to 
Japan  as  a  free  advocate  of  Christianity 
might  be  endangered,  he  carefully  stipu- 
lated that  Mr.  Mori  should  state  to  the 
embassy  that  any  service  desired  of  him 
would  be  undertaken  only  under  a  contract 
that  freed  him  from  all  obligation  to  the 
Japanese  government. 

Under  these  circumstances  he  was  en- 


26  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

gaged,  and  soon  proved  so  valuable  an  as- 
sistant, that  Mr.  Ta«naka  insisted  upon  his 
accompanying  the  embassy  to  Europe. 
There  he  gave  all  his  time  to  the  study  of 
the  best  methods  of  learning  in  schools 
and  institutions  of  all  grades ;  and  on  the 
basis  of  his  reports  was  built  to-day's  edu- 
cational system  in  Japan-.  From  this  Eu- 
ropean trip  with  the  embassy  Mr.  Neesima 
returned  to  Andover  in  September,  1873. 

In  March,  1874,  Mr.  Neesima  formally 
offered  himself  to  the  American  Board, 
and  July  2  was  appointed  corresponding 
member  to  the  Japanese  mission.  He  was 
graduated  as  a  special  student  from  An- 
dover Theological  Seminary,  and  ordained 
in  Boston,  September  24. 

The  Board  held  its  sixty-fifth  annual 
meeting  at  Rutland,  Vt.,  that  autumn,  and 
Mr.  Neesima  spoke  on  the  establishment 
of  a  Christian  college  in  Japan.  By  his 
soul-felt  enthusiasm  the  young  Japanese 
carried  his  audience  with  him ;  $5 ,000  was 
at  once  subscribed,  and  Neesima's  dream 
became  a  reality. 


JOSEPH  HARDY  NEESIMA.  2J 

In  October,  after  an  absence  of  ten 
years,  Neesima  left  New  York  for  his  na- 
tive land.  The  changes  that  had  taken 
place  there  seemed  to  him  almost  incredi- 
ble. He  found  a  national  line  of  steamers, 
lighthouses  at  all  important  coast  points,  a 
general  telegraphic  system,  a  postal  service, 
an  organized  navy,  and  a  railway  between 
Yokohama  and  the  capital.  In  the  treaty 
ports  small  Protestant  churches  had  been 
established ;  but  in  visiting  his  parents  at 
Annoka,  directly  after  his  arrival  in  Japan, 
Neesima  was  the  first  to  carry  the  gospel 
to  the  interior,  and  here  he  founded  one  of 
the  most  genuinely  Christian  communities 
in  Japan. 

Neesima  arrived  at  Osaka,  the  home  of 
the  American  Board  Mission,  Jan.  22,  and 
here  he  planned  to  establish  a  Christian 
school  with  a  broad  collegiate  course ;  but 
meeting  with  opposition,  he  gave  up  the 
project,  and  turned  his  steps  towards 
Kyoto.  Here  he  met  with  many  and  va- 
ried difficulties,  but  by  persistent  effort 
opened,  Nov.  25,  1875,  theDoshisha,  with 


28  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

eight  pupils.  The  winter  of  1875  was  one 
of  hardship  and  discouragement;  but  as- 
sisted by  the  Rev.  J.  D.  Davis,  D.D.,  he 
maintained  the  school,  which  constantly 
increased  in  numbers. 

On  Jan.  2,  1876,  Neesima  was  married 
to  the  sister  of  the  counsellor  to  the  Kyoto 
Fu.  She  had  been  a  teacher  in  the  gov- 
ernment school  for  girls,  but  her  engage- 
ment to  a  Christian  caused  her  discharge. 

After  her  marriage  she  entered  fully 
into  her  husband's  life-work ;  and  in  their 
house,  provided  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Sears  of 
Boston,  services  were  constantly  held,  and 
Christian  teaching  promulgated. 

From  1876  to  1884  Mr.  Neesima's  life 
was  filled  with  trials,  and  obstacles  of  every 
kind  threatened  the  very  existence  of  the 
Doshisha.  The  fact  that  the  school,  while 
nominally  a  Japanese  company,  was  in  re- 
ality supported  from  foreign  means,  caused 
an  attack  which  compelled  Mr.  Neesima  to 
write  to  the  Prudential  Committee  for  a 
permanent  endowment ;  and  in  November, 
1879,  he  received  the  joyful  tidings  that 


JOSEPH  HARDY  NEESIMA.  29 

the  year's  appropriation  of  eight  thousand 
dollars  would  soon  be  placed  under  his  di- 
rection for  the  educational  work  in  Kyoto. 

The  keynote  of  true  teaching  was  struck 
by  Mr.  Neesima's  effort  to  disseminate 
Christianity  through  an  educated  ministry. 
In  1880  he  writes:  "Try  to  send  out 
choice  men,  —  Christians  must  not  be 
charged  with  being  ignoramuses,  —  or  we 
shall  be  ridiculed  for  our  lack  of  learning 
as  well  as  for  our  faith.  We  need  the 
broadest  culture  and  Christian  spirit  to 
counteract  the  downward  tendency  of  our 
educated  youth." 

Through  all  his  work  Mr.  Neesima  en- 
tertained the  hope  born  at  Andover  of  a 
Christian  university  at  Japan,  and  deter- 
mined to  raise  endowments  for  history, 
philosophy,  political  economy,  law,  and 
medicine.  His  personal  activity  in  this  di- 
rection was  incessant ;  but,  his  health  fail- 
ing, he  accepted  in  1884  an  invitation  for 
rest  and  change  from  the  Board,  and  visited 
Europe  and  America.  During  this  trip  he 
everywhere  inspected  schools  and  colleges, 


30  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

and  noted  in  detail  methods  and  results, 
and  made  plans  of  buildings  and  appa- 
ratus. 

He  arrived  in  Boston,  Sept.  27,  1884; 
but  even  there  he  was  not  freed  from  care 
and  responsibilities.  The  outlook  in  Japan 
was  broadening,  and  the  demand  great  to 
place  the  Doshisha  upon  a  university  basis ; 
and  he  was  looked  upon  as  the  medium 
between  Japan  and  the  source  of  its  sup- 
ply. In  December  it  became  necessary 
for  him  to  go  to  Clifton  Springs,  N.Y., 
for  rest  at  the  Sanitarium.  He  left  there 
in  March,  1885,  somewhat  better  in  health, 
and  cheered  by  the  news  that  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  had  been  appropriated  for  the 
Japan  mission.  He  arrived  at  Yokohama 
Dec.  12,  1885,  "and  found  five  hundred 
friends,  students,  teachers,  relatives,  and 
prominent  citizens,"  assembled  there  to 
meet  him.  The  day  after  this  the  tenth 
anniversary  of  the  Doshisha  was  cele- 
brated, and  the  corner-stone  of  two  new 
buildings  laid.  The  school  was  in  a  flour- 
ishing condition  ;  and  the  Japanese  boy  of 


JOSEPH  HARDY  NEESIMA.  3! 

long  ago  was  now,  by  acclamation  of  its 
faculty,  president  of  the  college. 

Two  years  later  Amherst  College  con- 
ferred upon  Neesima  the  degree  of  doctor 
of  laws.  May  17,  1887,  an  income  of  not 
less  than  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  per 
annum  was  assured  to  the  Doshisha  by 
the  American  Board.  In  April,  1888,  a 
meeting  was  held  in  the  great  Buddhist 
temple  of  Chionin  in  Kyoto,  to  consider 
the  question  of  a  university  endowment. 
In  July  a  dinner  was  given  to  Mr.  Nee- 
sima by  the  late  minister  of  foreign  affairs, 
that  he  might  present  this  question  to  dis- 
tinguished Japanese  guests.  At  this  din- 
ner Mr.  Neesima  fainted,  worn  out  by  his 
efforts.  The  result  of  the  meeting  was  a 
pledge  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  to  the 
university.  In  the  summer  of  1888  he 
was  told  by  his  physicians  that  he  had  not 
long  to  live,  and  by  their  advice  was  taken 
to  a  mountain  resort  (Ikao)  ;  here  he  was 
cheered  by  the  gift  to  the  Doshisha  of  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars  from  Mr.  J.  N. 
Harris  of  New  London,  Conn.  Writing  to 


32  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

Mr.  Harris,  Mr.  Neesima  says,  "  A  dona- 
tion like  this  is  unknown  and  unprece- 
dented in  our  country." 

During  the  summer  months  of  1889 
Neesima's  health  seemed  to  improve  ;  and 
after  seeing  the  foundation  for  the  new 
science  building  laid,  he  went  to  Tokyo  to 
work  for  the  endowment  fund ;  but  rest 
was  again  advised  by  his  physicians,  and 
he  went  to  Oiso ;  and  here,  Jan.  23,  1890, 
he  died. 

On  the  news  of  Mr.  Neesima's  danger- 
ous illness,  the  students  of  Doshisha  were 
with  difficulty  restrained  from  proceeding 
in  a  body  to  his  bedside.  On  Jan.  24 
the  body  was  taken  to  Kyoto,  where  the 
funeral  services  took  place,  Jan.  27,  in 
presence  of  the  school,  graduates  from  all 
parts  of  the  empire,  city  authorities,  and 
representatives  of  foreign  missions.  In  the 
procession  (a  mile  and  a  half  in  length) 
was  seen  a  delegation  of  priests  bearing 
the  inscription,  "  From  the  Buddhists  of 
Osaka."  Truly  no  private  citizen  ever 
died  in  Japan  whose  loss  was  so  widely 


JOSEPH  HARDY  NEESIMA.  33 

and  so  deeply  felt  as  that  of  Mr.  Neesima. 
On  the  plain  below  Kyoto  stands  his  out- 
ward monument,  the  Doshisha,  from  whose 
walls  have  come  the  most  powerful  factors 
in  the  civilization  of  new  Japan ;  but  in  the 
lives  of  the  men  about  him  is  written  the 
endurance  of  his  influence,  the  divinity  of 
his  soul. 


WILLIAM  SUTLER. 

Missionary  to  India  and  Mexico. 
BORN,  iSiS. 


WILLIAM  BUTLER. 

IT  was  the  happy  Christian  experience 
of  an  old  blind  harper  that  forged  the  first 
visible  link  in  the  chain  of  providences 
which  brought  William  Butler  from  a  life 
of  careless  ease  to  the  work  of  preaching 
the  gospel.  The  poor  sightless  musician 
doubtless  felt  that  he  could  do  very  little 
for  the  Master  he  loved,  —  naught  save  to 
testify  of  his  goodness ;  yet  God  honored 
his  quiet,  consistent  life  by  giving  him  thus 
a  share  in  the  work  of  bringing  the  world 
to  the  feet  of  Christ. 

William  Butler  was  born  in  Ireland  in 
1818.  Early  left  an  orphan,  he  was  for 
some  years  in  the  care  of  a  godly  great- 
grandmother,  who  used  to  induce  the 
little  lad  to  mount  a  chair  for  a  pulpit, 
and,  clad  in  an  improvised  surplice,  to  read 

37 


38  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

the  lessons  for  the  day  from  the  Church  of 
England  Prayer-book.  This  little  service 
was  a  great  comfort  to  the  venerable  old 
lady,  who  was  unable  longer  to  attend 
church.  In  his  early  manhood,  however, 
he  lived  without  any  serious  aim  in  life, 
until  the  question,  "  Do  you  pray?"  was 
put  to  him  by  a  gentle  lady,  an  entire 
stranger,  who  had  found  the  joy  in  believ- 
ing described  to  her  by  the  old  harper, 
and  who  was  eager  for  others  to  find  it 
also.  The  thoughtfulness  induced  by  this 
question  led  to  his  conversion,  and  dedica- 
tion to  the  Christian  ministry. 

Soon  after  graduating  from  Didsbury 
Theological  Seminary  in  England  he  came 
to  the  United  States,  where  he  joined  the 
New  England  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  During  his  pastorates 
he  devoted  much  of  his  study  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  heathen  world,  preaching  mis- 
sionary sermons,  and  publishing  articles 
on  the  subject  in  the  church  periodicals. 
After  a  few  years  the  project  of  a  mission 
in  India  was  taken  up  by  the  missionary 


JVILLIAM  SUTLER.  $$ 

Board  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  appeals  were  issued  to  the  ministry 
for  some  one  to  offer  himself  to  go  and 
begin  the  work ;  but  for  more  than  three 
years  no  one  fitted  for  the  position  was 
found.  Mr.  Butler  shared  the  anxiety  of 
the  secretaries  and  bishops  lest  the  enter- 
prise should  fail  for  want  of  a  suitable 
leader.  On  account  of  his  four  young 
children  he  hesitated  to  offer  himself;  but 
finally  his  sense  of  the  great  need  of  the 
people  of  India  led  him  to  consult  with 
the  authorities,  and  soon  he  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  new  mission.  His 
wife  bravely  seconded  him  in  his  deter- 
mination ;  and,  leaving  two  boys  at  school, 
they  sailed  for  India  in  1856. 

On  their  way  they  stopped  in  London  to 
confer  with  the  secretaries  of  the  different 
missionary  societies  as  to  the  most  desir- 
able field  for  the  Methodist  Church  to 
enter  where  no  other  agency  was  at  work. 
On  reaching  Calcutta,  the  same  inquiries 
were  made  as  to  the  most  needy  provinces  ; 
and  Oudh  and  Rohilcund,  in  the  Gangetic 


40  CHEAT  MJSSIOMARJ&S. 

valley,  with  their  twenty  millions  of  souls, 
were  selected  as  the  field  of  the  new  mis- 
sion. The  people  were  intensely  Jiostile  to 
Christianity ;  and  the  feeling  of  unrest  in 
the  native  army  culminated  in  the  dread- 
ful atrocities  of  the  Sepoy  Rebellion,  only 
ten  weeks  after  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Butler  had 
begun  their  work  in  Bareilly.  They  were 
compelled  to  fly  to  the  mountains,  where  at 
Naini  Tal  they  found  a  refuge  for  the  weary 
months  of  anxiety  and  danger.  Their  near- 
est missionary  neighbors,  of  the  Presby- 
terian mission,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Ganges,  who  had  fled  from  Futtyghur  for 
safety,  were  cruelly  massacred,  Dr.  Butler's 
home  was  burned,  and  a  gallows  erected  for 
him  in  the  public  square  at  Bareilly,  the 
rebel  leader  there  expressing  his  great  dis- 
appointment when  he  found  that  the  mis- 
sionary had  escaped.  The  first  Eurasian 
assistant,  a  young  lady,  was  killed  ;  and  the 
native  preacher  Joel,  who,  with  his  wife, 
had  been  spared  by  the  Presbyterian  mis- 
sionaries to  aid  in  beginning  the  mission, 
escaped  only  after  enduring  many  perils. 


WILLIAM  SUTLER'.  41 

The  church  at  home  believed  that  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Butler  had  perished,  as  no  tid- 
ings of  their  safety  could  reach  the  outside 
world ;  and  an  obituary  was  published,  so 
certain  did  it  seem  that  they  had  suffered 
with  the  many  scores  of  Christian  people 
who  fell  in  that  terrible  uprising  of  Moslem 
hate  and  heathen  superstition.  Dr.  But- 
ler's first  and  only  experience  in  handling 
firearms  was  at  this  time,  when  he  and 
eighty-six  Englishmen  held  the  pass  up 
to  their  place  of  refuge  against  the  three 
thousand  Sepoys  who  were  sent  to  capture 
them.  The  history  of  this  trying  time  has 
been  graphically  told  by  Dr.  Butler  in  his 
"  Land  of  the  Veda." 

As  soon  as  peace  was  restored,  the  work 
was  begun  again,  with  large  re-enforce- 
ments from  the  United  States.  The  prin- 
cipal towns  of  the  two  provinces  were 
supplied  with  foreign  missionaries,  and 
from  these  centres  the  work  was  pushed 
out  into  the  villages  round  about.  Earnest 
street  preaching,  the  distribution  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  hundreds  of  little  schools, 


42  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

were  the  methods  of  seed-sowing  which  in 
due  time  have  brought  forth  an  abundant 
harvest. 

From  the  first,  Dr.  Butler's  plan  for  the 
missions  was  to  avoid  controversy,  but 
to  preach  Christ  as  a  Saviour  for  all  who 
will  accept  him.  The  first  convert  from 
Mohammedanism  in  this  mission  was  won 
by  this  holding  up  of  the  cross  of  Christ 
to  the  view  of  sin-sick  souls.  He  was 
in  the  crowd  which  gathered  around  the 
missionary  as  he  stood  and  preached  in  the 
bazaar,  and  told  in  simple  language  what 
God  had  done  for  him  in  forgiving  his  sins 
for  Christ's  sake.  The  Mohammedan  was 
greatly  moved  ;  and,  seeking  the  missionary 
alone,  he  asked  him  if  he  had  really  ex- 
perienced this  relief  from  the  load  of  sin  of 
which  he  had  told  them  in  the  bazaar.  On 
being  assured  it  was  true,  he  sought  and 
found  the  same  pardon,  and  became  one  of 
the  most  successful  of  the  native  .ministers. 

The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Soci- 
ety came  to  aid  this  work  with  its  devoted 
agents  for  the  special  need  among  the 


WILLIAM  BUTLER.  43 

secluded  women  in  the  zenanas.  Their 
medical  work,  begun  by  Dr.  Clara  Swain 
in  1870,  the  first  woman  to  go  as  a  physi- 
cian to  the  women  of  the  East,  has  accom- 
plished wonders  in  breaking  down  the 
barriers  raised  against  Christianity.  The 
work  of  the  Methodist  Church  now  ex- 
tends all  over  India,  and  before  the  close 
of  its  forty  years  of  existence  counts  eighty 
thousand  members  who  have  been  brought 
to  Christ,  with  many  thousands  more 
under  its  instruction  and  influence. 

After  ten  years  of  service,  Dr.  Butler 
returned  to  the  United  States  in  broken 
health,  coming  by  sailing-vessel  around 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  during  the  closing 
days  of  our  Civil  War.  His  description  of 
their  anxiety  during  the  four  weary  months 
on  board  that  passed  without  any  news 
from  the  scene  of  conflict,  and  of  the 
tremendous  effect  of  the  statements  made 
by  the  pilot  as  he  came  on  board  off  the 
coast  of  England  and  announced  that  the 
war  was  over  the  Union  saved,  and  that 
the  great  Lincoln  had  fallen,  is  not  one  of 


44  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

the  least  of  thrilling  tales  that  Dr.  Butler 
relates  in  his  lectures. 

In  1870  he  was  appointed  secretary 
of  the  American  and  Foreign  Christian 
Union,  which  had  as  its  especial  object 
evangelical  work  in  the  Republic  of 
Mexico,  just  then  opening  to  Protestant 
influences.  This  continued  till  1873,  when 
some  of  the  churches  began'  to  feel  that 
more  could  be  done  through  separate 
missions  of  each  denomination ;  and  Dr. 
Butler  was  asked  to  go  to  Mexico,  to  es- 
tablish the  work  there  as  he  had  done  in 
India.  Entering  the  republic  soon  after 
the  troublous  times  which  ended  the  so- 
called  Empire  of  Maximilian  of  Austria, 
he  found  religious  liberty  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  land,  though  it  was  as  yet  imper- 
fectly understood  by  the  masses.  Threats 
of  violence  were  frequently  made  by  the 
fanatical  part  of  the  population,  and  many 
times  the  missionaries'  lives  were  imper- 
illed ;  but  the  law  has  upheld  the  right 
of  religious  liberty,  and  only  one  foreigner 
has  lost  his  life,  though  many  of  the  Mexi- 


WILLIAM  BUTLER.  45 

cans  have  suffered  bitter  persecuti^f;  and 
death.  In  six  years  the  mission  was  fi/frijy, 
established  ;  and  Dr.  Butler  returned  ffeje 
in  shattered  health,  but  soon  recovered 
sufficiently  to  go  up  and  down  throughout 
the  Methodist  Church,  urging  the  claims 
of  the  missionary  work  with  an  eloquence 
and  enthusiasm  well  nigh  irresistible,  thus 
greatly  aiding  the  devoted  missionary  sec- 
retaries in  bringing  up  the  contributions 
of  the  churches  to  a  more  generous  figure. 
It  is  a  very  unusual  thing  for  a  mission- 
ary to  be  given  the  privilege  of  seeing, 
after  many  days,  the  harvest  from  the  seed 
he  had  planted,  and  another  had  watered, 
and  to  which  God  had  given  a  wonderful  in- 
crease. That  joy  is  reserved  for  the  most 
of  the  servants  of  God  until  the  "  Well 
done ! "  of  the  Master  opens  up  the  eternal 
bliss  of  heaven.  For  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Butler 
this  happy  experience  began  in  this  life, 
when  in  1883  they  went  back  to  India 
to  review  the  progress  of  the  work.  Land- 
ing in  Bombay,  they  were  welcomed  by 
large  congregations  of  native  Christian 


46  ORE  A  T  MISSIONARIES. 

people ;  and  at  every  principal  station 
throughout  the  empire  loyal  greeting  was 
given  to  those  who  came  alone,  only  about 
thirty  years  before,  with  no  Christian  to 
stand  with  them  amidst  the  millions  of 
idolaters  and  followers  of  Islam.  Now 
they  were  received  by  thousands  of  native 
members,  who  sang,  "  The  morning  light 
is  breaking,  the  darkness  disappears,"  as 
they  welcomed  "  the  Father  and  Mother 
of  the  Mission,"  with  a  rejoicing  that  was  a 
foretaste  of  the  joy  of  the  home-coming  in 
the  better  land.  Truly  the  little  one  had 
become  thousands,  and  darkness  and  su- 
perstition are  being  put  to  flight. 

Perhaps  the  most  affecting  sight  of  this 
happy  journey  was  at  Chandausi  camp- 
meeting,  where  Dr.  Butler  arrived  some- 
what unexpectedly  at  the  large  tent  where 
about  eight  hundred  native  Christians  were 
gathered  for  an  early  morning  service. 
Joel,  the  native  helper,  who  had  been  a 
faithful  minister  since  the  beginning  of  the 
mission,  was  leading  the  congregation  in 
prayer.  It  seemed  as  if  Dr.  Butler  could 


WILLIAM  SUTLER.  47 

hardly  restrain  himself  until  the  petition 
was  finished,  when  he  stepped  forward  and 
placed  his  hands  on  the  shoulders  of  his 
beloved  fellow-laborer,  whose  now  sight- 
less eyes  could  not  look  upon  his  face,  but 
whose  heart  recognized  the  loving  touch 
of  his  old  superintendent.  In  a  moment 
they  were  clasped  in  each  other's  arms, 
while  the  audience  rose  and  sang,  as  the 
tears  rolled  down  their  cheeks  in  sympathy 
with  the  joy  they  beheld,  "  Praise  God 
from  whom  all  blessings  flow."  No  won- 
der that  one  of  our  missionary  secretaries 
should  say,  "  I  would  rather  found  a  mis- 
sion than  an  empire  " ! 

After  an  extended  tour  through  the  vari- 
ous missions,  Dr.  Butler  returned  to  plead 
with  still  greater  fervor  for  this  blessed 
work.  His  account  of  the  wonderful  suc- 
cesses crowning  the  efforts  to  evangelize 
that  great  people  was  again  an  inspiration 
to  the  whole  Methodist  Church.  In  1887 
he  went  to  revisit  Mexico,  where  he  found 
the  work  equally  full  of  promise,  even  if 
not  yet  realizing  the  results  of  years  of 


48  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

labor  as  fully  as  the  older  and  larger  mis- 
sion of  India.  There  among  the  faithful 
workers  was  his  son,  one  of  the  lads  who 
had  been  so  reluctantly  left  behind  when 
he  first  went  to  India,  now  devoting  his 
life  to  the  redemption  of  Mexico.  Liberty 
of  opinion  had  gained  favor  among  the 
people  of  our  sister  republic  ;  and  the  idea 
of  a  heart  religion,  rather  than  a  mere 
change  of  form,  had  become  more  appar- 
ent to  the  converts.  The  noble  President 
of  Mexico,  General  Porfirio  Diaz,  has 
afforded  every  protection  to  Protestant 
work  that  the  constitution  provides ;  and 
peace  throughout  the  land  has  given 
opportunity  for  preaching  the  gospel  to 
the  thousands  who  eagerly  hear.  In  the 
volume,  "  Mexico  in  Transition,"  written 
since  this  visit,  Dr.  Butler  traces  the  hand 
of  God  working  in  the  marvellous  events 
of  the  history  of  Mexico  that  have  brought 
the  republic  to  its  present  state  of  free- 
dom and  prosperity. 

This  "  veteran  missionary  of  two   con- 
tinents" is   passing  his  declining  days  in 


WILLIAM  BUTLER.  49 

Newton  Centre,  Mass.,  and  though  in  very 
feeble  health,  finds  great  joy  in  read- 
ing the  reports  which  reach  him  weekly 
of  the  glorious  victories  in  the  fields  which 
lie  so  near  his  heart.  By  his  pen  he  still 
pleads  for  the  missions  of  the  church,  his 
latest  effort  being  to  secure  chapels  for  the 
village  Christians  in  India.  He  is  no  pes- 
simist, but  glows  with  enthusiasm  as  he  re- 
counts what  God  has  wrought  during  the 
present  century  of  missionary  effort,  and  of 
the  manifold  agencies  of  good  now  being 
exerted  by  all  branches  of  the  Christian 
church.  He  says  that  God  has  fulfilled 
his  promise  of  the  "  hundred-fold  in  this 
life,"  and  he  doubts  not  of  the  fulfilment 
of  glorious  promise  of  life  eternal. 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON. 

Missionary  to  Burmah. 
BORN  AUG.  g,  1788 ;  DIED  APRIL  12,  1850. 


ADON1RAM  JUDSON. 

As  Carey  was  the  father  of  modern  mis- 
sions, Judson  was  the  father  of  American 
missions.  The  thought  was  no  doubt  in 
many  minds,  and  in  that  circle  of  young 
men  from  which  sprung  the  American 
Board,  each  no  doubt  owed  much  to  the 
others ;  but  partly  from  his  own  strong 
gifts  of  body,  mind,  and  downright  moral 
consistency,  Judson  was  the  first  to  carry 
out  in  actual  missionary  life  what  to  others 
was  a  plan,  a  hope,  a  prayer. 

Born  Aug.  9,  1788,  eldest  son  of  the 
Congregational  minister  at  Maiden,  Mass., 
he  could  read  when  three  years  old,  was 
acute  with  figures  when  ten,  and,  proud 
and  ambitious,  entered  Brown  University, 
where  at  nineteen  he  graduated  first  in 
his  class.  His  college  course  won  only 

53 


54  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

praise ;  but  his  brightness  brought  him 
under  the  influence  of  a  sceptical  college 
friend,  and  he  came  home  to  declare  him- 
self to  his  father,  with  characteristic  down- 
rightness,  an  infidel.  His  father  was  then 
minister  at  Plymouth;  and  there  the  son 
taught  school  for  a  year,  at  this  time  pub- 
lishing a  school  grammar  and  an  arithme- 
tic. He  had  some  thoughts  of  dramatic 
writing,  and  made  a  tour  of  travel  as  far  as 
New  York,  for  a  time  travelling  with  a 
theatrical  company. 

Returning  to  Sheffield,  Mass.,  where  his 
uncle  was  minister,  he  arranged  for  a 
farther  journey  westward ;  but  was  much 
impressed  by  a  young  minister  who 
preached  there  by  exchange ;  and  next 
day,  setting  out,  took  lodging  at  a  country 
inn,  where  a  young  man  lay  very  ill  in 
the  adjoining  room.  Judson  was  restless, 
thinking  of  this  man,  sick  and  away  from 
home  ;  and  next  morning  learned  with  deep 
feeling  that  he  had  died  ;  and,  hearing  his 
name,  was  overwhelmed  to  find  that  it  was 
his  sceptical  college  friend.  His  scheme  of 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON.  55 

travel  seemed  now  impossible ;  his  infidel 
theories  melted  away ;  and  he  turned  his 
horse's  head  toward  Plymouth,  and  next 
month  entered  an  advanced  class  at  An- 
dover  Theological  Seminary.  He  joined 
his  father's  church  in  Plymouth  the  next 
May. 

In  the  seminary  he  read  Buchanan's 
"  Star  in  the  East,"  and  Syme's  "  Empire 
of  Ava,"  and  became  associated  with 
Samuel  Nott,  and  Samuel  J.  Mills,  Gordon 
Hall,  and  others  of  the  Williams  College 
"  Haystack  "  company ;  and  though  offered 
a  tutorship  at  Brown  University,  and  an 
associate  pastorate  with  Dr.  Griffin  in 
Boston,  he  devoted  himself  to  foreign  mis- 
sionary work. 

He  had  already  written  to  the  London 
Missionary  Society ;  and,  after  consultation 
with  the  teachers  and  ministers  near  An- 
dover,  he  joined  his  fellow-students  in  a 
letter  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Asso- 
ciation of  Congregational  Churches,  which 
met  at  Bradford,  June  29,  1810,  asking 
advice  and  help  towards  missionary  service. 


56  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

This  letter  was  signed  by  Judson,  Nott, 
Mills,  and  Samuel  Newell. 

There  had  been  in  existence  since  1799 
the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society,  or- 
ganized to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  Indians, 
and  to  cultivate  the  missionary  spirit  ;  but 
the  General  Association  now  organized  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions,  and  commended  the 
young  men  to  its  direction. 

Judson  was  first  sent  to  London  to  ask 
the  co-operation  of  the  London  Society. 
His  ship  was  captured  by  a  French  priva- 
teer, and  he  was  imprisoned  on  ship  and 
in  France ;  but  escaped  to  London,  where 
he  was  cordially  received ;  but  later  it  was 
thought  best  to  send  him  abroad  without 
English  assistance.  He  was  married  Feb. 
5,  1812,  to  Miss  Ann  Hasseltine,  daugh- 
ter of  the  minister  at  Bradford  ;  Feb. 
6  he  was  ordained,  and  on  Feb.  19  he 
sailed  with  his  bride  from  Salem  for  Cal- 
cutta. 

On  the  long  voyage  he  became  convinced 
that  the  Baptist  doctrine  was  in  agree- 


ADONIRAM  JUDSOtf.  $? 

ment  with  the  Scripture ;  and  after  reach- 
ing Calcutta  he  applied  to  the  English 
Baptist  missionaries  at  Serampore,  and, 
with  his  wife,  was  immersed,  and  resigned 
his  connection  with  the  American  Board. 
The  East  India  Company  presently 
ordered  him  and  his  fellow  American  mis- 
sionaries to  return  home,  subsequently 
allowing  them  to  go  to  Mauritius.  There 
Mrs.  Newell  died ;  and  Mr.  Rice,  who  had 
also  become  a  Baptist,  went  to  America 
to  urge  the  organizing  of  a  Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Society.  Judson  and  his  wife,  after 
four  months  in  Mauritius,  largely  spent  in 
mission-work  with  English  soldiers,  sailed 
for  Madras,  hoping  to  establish  a  mission 
at  Pulo-Penang,  in  the  Strait  of  Malacca. 
But  the  only  ship  sailing  in  that  direction 
took  them  to  Rangoon  in  Burmah,  beyond 
the  protection  of  the  British  flag,  where 
they  arrived  July  13,  1813.  There  a  son 
of  Dr.  Carey  had  occupied  the  English 
Baptist  mission-house  ;  but  he  was  absent, 
and  soon  afterwards  resigned  the  mission 
in  their  favor. 


58  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

Burmah  was  then  an  independent  em- 
pire, with  a  population  of  about  eight 
millions ;  the  government  an  absolute 
despotism,  arbitrary  and  most  cruel ;  the 
religion  Buddhism.  Rangoon,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Irrawaddy,  is  the  natural 
depot  of  much  of  Central  Asia,  and  was 
a  strategic  centre  for  Christian  missions. 
It  was  then  a  dirty  town  of  about  ten 
thousand  inhabitants,  intersected  by  muddy 
inlets,  which  filled  at  high  tide.  Here 
Judson  began  his  permanent  work. 

Two  languages  were  to  learn  —  the  com- 
mon Burmese,  and  the  sacred  Pali.  The 
younger  Carey  had  not  preached,  but  had 
partly  made  a  grammar  and  dictionary ; 
and  Judson  at  once  began  his  translation 
of  the  Bible,  which  he  finished  in  1834. 

In  1815  Mrs.  Judson  had  to  go  to  Ma- 
dras for  medical  advice.  That  year  their 
first  child  was  born,  a  little  boy  who  died 
in  infancy.  In  1816  Judson  seemed  break- 
ing down,  and  hurriedly  collected  the  notes 
he  had  made  for  a  Burman  grammar.  It 
was  published  twenty  years  later,  and 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON.  59 

greatly  praised  for  comprehensive  and 
concise  accuracy.  Partially  recovering,  he 
imported  a  printing-press  from  Serampore 
and  a  printer  from  America,  and  published 
his  "  View  of  the  Christian  Religion,"  the 
first  of  a  series  of  tracts  that  had  a  strong 
influence  with  that  thoughtful  and  reading 
people.  Mrs.  Judson  also  published  a 
catechism. 

These  publications  were  followed  by  the 
appearance  of  Inquirers,  the  first  one  com- 
ing March  7,  1817,  and  marking  an  epoch 
in  the  work. 

With  a  deepened  sense  of  the  need  of 
evangelistic  work,  Judson  now  went  to 
Chittagong  to  find  some  native  Christian 
who  could  preach  and  teach  in  Burmese. 
He  was  unexpectedly  detained  there  seven 
months,  during  which  his  wife,  with  some 
missionary  helpers  who  had  joined  them, 
maintained  the  work  under  vexatious  per- 
secutions, displaying  great  endurance  and 
wonderful  skill  and  diplomacy  with  the 
native  authorities  ;  and  later  going  through 
the  trials  of  an  epidemic  of  cholera.  On 


6O  ORE  A  T  MISSIONARIES. 

his  return  Judson  built  an  open  say  at,  a 
shed  of  bamboo,  for  public  evangelization, 
with  a  room  for  assemblies  of  worship,  and 
another,  opening  on  the  garden,  for  wo- 
men's classes.  The  zayat  was  on  a  main 
public  thoroughfare,  under  the  shadow  of 
the  chief  pagoda.  Here  he  conversed  with 
men  of  different  classes,  some  of  profound 
Oriental  learning,  and  saw  how  the  scepti- 
cism of  European  philosophy  has  been  an- 
ticipated in  the  subtler  scepticisms  of  India, 
which  have  undermined  Oriental  faith,  and 
made  preparation  for  a  faith  more  rational. 

The  first  regular  service  was  held  in  the 
zayat  April  4,  1819,  Judson  having  been  in 
Rangoon  nearly  six  years,  and  then  first 
venturing  to  preach  in  the  native  tongue. 
The  27th  of  the  following  June  he  baptized 
his  first  Burman  convert,  Moung  Nau. 

In  November  there  were  rumors  of  perse- 
cutions, and  public  services  were  suspended 
for  several  Sundays,  and  two  new  converts 
were  baptized  privately ;  and  greater  inter- 
est bringing  new  threats  from  the  authori- 
ties, Judson  went  to  Ava,  the  capital,  to  lay 


ADONTRAM  JUDSON.  6 1 

the  matter  before  the  king.  The  journey 
and  return  consumed  over  two  months, 
and  seemed  rather  to  produce  more  explicit 
threats ;  and  Judson  resolved  to  remove  to 
Chittagong,  under  British  rule. 

But  now  the  little  circle  of  converts  awoke 
to  independent  life  and  courage.  They 
could  not  bear  to  be  scattered,  but  begged 
that,  if  the  missionaries  must  go,  it  would 
not  be  till  their  membership  was  increased 
to  ten,  and  they  organized  under  some 
leader  to  hold  them  together  and  help  their 
Christian  life.  Departure  was  therefore 
postponed ;  and  ten  months  later  the  tenth 
convert  and  first  woman  was  received  into 
the  church.  This  was  on  the  eve  of  Jud- 
son's  sailing  to  Calcutta  with  his  wife 
because  of  her  ill  heath ;  and  through  this 
absence  the  little  church  stood  steadfast 
even  under  persecution. 

Then  the  persecution  ceased.  A  girls' 
school  was  opened  ;  and  the  work  took  so 
interesting  a  form  that,  though  Mrs.  Jud- 
son's  health  compelled  her  to  go  to  Amer- 
ica, her  husband  remained  at  Rangoon. 


62  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

He  was  now  joined  by  Dr.  Price,  a  med- 
ical missionary,  whose  remarkable  success, 
especially  in  operations  for  cataract,  led  to 
his  being  summoned  to  Ava,  to  the  king ; 
and  here  Judson  thought  it  best  to  accom- 
pany him. 

This  movement  brought  the  whole  mis- 
sionary work  at  once  under  favorable  no- 
tice of  the  court.  There  was  no  more  talk 
of  persecution,  but  apparently  the  largest 
opening  for  greatly  enlarged  work.  Jud- 
son came  into  the  presence  of  the  king, 
and  received  the  royal  invitation  to  transfer 
his  work  from  Rangoon  to  the  capital ;  and 
after  Mrs.  Judson's  return  from  America 
with  improved  health,  and  with  re-enforce- 
ments for  Rangoon,  they  removed  to  Ava, 
arriving  there  in  January,  1824. 

The  court  favor  at  Ava,  however,  was 
clouded  over  by  a  change  of  ministers, 
almost  before  their  actual  arrival.  Many 
postponements  and  hindrances  impeded 
their  work,  in  spite  of  the  favor  held  by 
Dr.  Price's  medical  reputation  ;  and  in  a 
few  months  the  outbreak  of  war  between 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON.  63 

Burmah  and  England  threw  the  mission 
into  confusion  and  dismay.  There  was  a 
general  suspicion  of  all  persons  of  English 
speech ;  and  ere  long  Judson,  Dr.  Price, 
and  five  others  were  arrested  and  thrown 
into  prison. 

This  imprisonment  lasted  for  eleven 
months  in  the  "death-prison"  at  Ava, 
and  afterwards  for  six  months  in  the  coun- 
try prison  of  Oung-peu-la.  Mrs.  Judson 
was  not  arrested,  though  her  house  was 
searched  and  all  valuable  property  confis- 
cated. She  made  almost  daily  visits  to  the 
prison,  though  often  refused  admittance, 
and  also  to  the  palace,  maintaining  the 
respect  and  friendship  of  some  of  the 
court,  and  was  able  to  carry  her  husband 
food  and  clothing,  and  after  some  months 
to  build  him  a  little  bamboo  shed  in  the 
prison  yard,  where  he  could  sometimes  be 
by  himself,  and  where  at  times  she  was 
allowed  to  be  with  him.  In  January,  1825, 
a  little  daughter  was  born  to  her;  and  a 
few  months  later  she  went  through  an 
epidemic  of  small-pox. 


64  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

The  horrors  of  Judson's  imprisonment 
can  only  be  imagined ;  crowded  into  nar- 
row quarters  with  over  a  hundred  common 
criminals,  loaded  with  fetters,  at  first  three 
pairs  of  fetters,  afterwards  five  pairs,  with 
no  conveniences  for  cleanliness  or  even 
decency.  After  eleven  months  the  cap- 
tives were  suddenly  removed  from  the  city 
prison,  and  with  agonizingly  painful  march- 
ing taken  to  the  country  prison  of  Oung- 
peu-la.  There,  after  days  of  weariness  and 
pain,  at  night,  for  security,  a  bamboo  pole 
was  passed  between  the  fettered  ankles  of 
a  string  of  prisoners,  and  then  hoisted  by 
ropes  till  their  shoulders  only  rested  on  the 
floor.  Daily  and  nightly  torture,  racking 
fever,  half  starvation,  and  daily  anticipation 
of  death,  marked  these  terrible  months. 

But  the  success  of  the  British  arms  at 
length  compelled  the  king  to  send  Judson 
and  Dr.  Price  as  interpreting  envoys  to 
negotiate  peace ;  and  the  British  comman- 
der made  his  first  absolute  demand  the 
release  of  the  missionaries,  and  the  Judsons 
returned  to  Rangoon.  During  his  impris- 


ADONIRAM  JUDSOM.  65 

onment  his  unfinished  manuscript  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  was  hid  by  his  wife  in  a 
cotton  pillow  on  which  he  slept.  This  was 
thrown  aside  as  worthless  when  his  prison 
was  changed,  but  was  found  and  saved  by 
a  native  convert. 

The  Rangoon  church  being  scattered,  a 
new  mission  was  begun  at  Amherst  on 
British  territory,  but  later  removed  to 
Maulmain,  a  more  important  centre.  This 
greatly  prospered,  though  they  had  no  more 
their  youthful  strength ;  and  during  Judson's 
absence  at  Ava,  attempting  to  secure  reli- 
gious toleration,  his  wife  died  of  a  fever, 
and  he  returned  soon  to  lay  their  little  child 
by  her  side. 

With  broken  heart  and  health  he  became 
almost  wildly  ascetic ;  living  much  alone, 
fasting  and  praying  whole  days  in  the 
woods.  He  relinquished  part  of  his  slen- 
der missionary  pay,  and  made  over  to  the 
Board  about  six  thousand  dollars,  includ- 
ing presents  and  fees  from  the  British 
government  for  treaty- negotiation  service, 
and  some  private  means  brought  origi- 


66  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

nally  from  home.  In  1830  he  again  at- 
tempted to  penetrate  Burmah,  living  six 
months  at  Prome,  half-way  between  Ran- 
goon and  Ava,  but  was  driven  back  by 
Burman  intrigues.  He  then  began  a  work 
among  the  wild  Karens  of  the  jungle,  and 
with  great  success. 

In  1834  ne  Carried  Mrs.  Sarah  Board- 
man,  widow  of  a  fellow  missionary.  He 
completed  his  Bible,  pronounced  by  Dr. 
Wayland  the  best  translation  in  India,  and 
by  Orientalists  "  a  perfect  literary  work." 

In  1845  his  health  and  his  wife's  was 
so  broken  that  they  sailed  for  Mauritius, 
and  from  there  for  America ;  but  she  died 
Sept.  i,  while  in  port  at  St.  Helena.  Jud- 
son,  with  three  children,  reached  Boston  on 
Oct.  15. 

He  was  in  America  till  July,  1846,  and, 
before  re-embarking  for  India,  was  married 
to  Miss  Emily  Chubbuck,  who  was  known 
as  a  writer  under  the  name  of  Fanny 
Forester. 

His  last  years,  1846-1850,  were  spent 
in  another  earnest  but  unsuccessful  at- 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON.  6/ 

tempt  to  break  through  Burman  bigotry, 
in  the  continuation  of  his  Burman  dic- 
tionary and  other  literary  work,  and  in 
the  forwarding  of  the  general  missionary 
enterprise. 

Towards  the  end  of  1849  his  health 
declined  alarmingly.  His  sixty  years  had 
contained  more  wear  and  strain  than  come 
to  many  a  long  life.  The  "  keen  sword 
had  worn  out  the  scabbard."  In  the  spring 
of  1850  it  was  hoped  that  a  sea  voyage 
might  help  him  ;  and  he  was  carried  on 
shipboard  April  8,  but  died  April  12,  and 
was  buried  at  sea. 

The  late  Rev.  A.  J.  Gordon,  D.D.,  in 
writing  of  the  illustrious  missionary  whose 
name  he  bears,  says  :  "  Park  Street  Church 
in  Boston,  whose  call  the  Spirit  constrained 
Judson  to  decline  seventy-five  years  ago, 
is  still  a  large  body,  numbering  perhaps 
a  thousand  members  ;  but  the  church  in 
Burmah,  which  that  same  Spirit  led  Judson 
to  found,  numbers  to-day  thirty  thousand 
communicants,  with  a  great  company  be- 
side who  have  fallen  asleep."  x 


JOHN  G.   PATON. 

Missionary  to  the  New  Hebrides. 
BORN  MAY  24,  1824. 


JOHN  G,  PATON-. 

JOHN  GIBSON  PATON  was  born  May  24, 
1824,  near  Dumfries,  in  the  south  of  Scot- 
land. His  father  was  a  stocking-maker; 
and  although  his  family  was  little  blessed 
in  this  world's  goods,  it  was  devoutly  reli- 
gious. When  young  John  had  reached  his 
fifth  year,  the  family  moved  to  a  new  home 
in  the  ancient  village  of  Torthorwald. 

Their  new  home  was  of  the  usual 
thatched  cottage,  plainly  but  substantially 
built.  It  was  one- story,  and  was  divided 
into  three  rooms.  One  end  room  served 
as  the  living-room  of  the  family,  the  other 
as  a  shop,  and  the  middle  one  was  the 
family  sanctuary.  To  the  sanctuary  the 
father  retired  after  each  meal  to  offer  up 
prayer  in  behalf  of  his  family.  Paton  him- 
self says  :  "  We  occasionally  heard  the  pa- 
71 


72  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

thetic  echoes  of  a  trembling  voice,  pleading 
as  if  for  life  ;  and  we  learned  to  slip  out  and 
in  past  that  door  on  tiptoe,  not  to  disturb 
that  holy  colloquy."  Is  it  strange  that  from 
this  family  there  should  come  three  minis- 
ters of  the  gospel  ? 

In  early  boyhood  John  was  sent  to  the 
parish  school,  presided  over  by  a  man 
named  Smith,  who,  although  of  high  schol- 
arship, was  often  unreasonable  when  in  a 
rage.  At  one  time  his  temper  got  the 
best  of  him,  and  he  unjustly  punished 
Paton,  who  ran  home.  Returning  at  his 
mother's  entreaty,  he  was  again  abused, 
and  left  the  school  never  to  return.  He 
now  began  to  learn  his  father's  trade,  mak- 
ing an  effort  at  the  same  time  to  keep  up 
his  studies.  The  work  was  hard,  and  he 
toiled  from  six  in  the  morning  until  ten  at 
night.  At  this  time  he  learned  much  in  a 
mechanical  line  which  was  of  use  to  him 
later  in  the  missionary  field.  He  saved 
enough  money  from  his  wages  to  enable 
him  to  attend  Dumfries  Academy  for  six 
weeks.  As  a  result  of  his  earnest  endeavor 


JOHN  G.  PA  TOM  J$ 

to  keep  up  his  studies  since  leaving  the 
parish  school,  he  was  able  now  as  a  young 
man  to  obtain  a  position  as  district  visitor 
and  tract  distributer  of  the  West  Campbell 
Street  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Glasgow,  with  the  privilege  of  attending 
the  Free  Church  Normal  Seminary.  There 
were  two  applicants  for  the  position ;  and  as 
the  trustees  could  not  decide  between  them, 
they  offered  to  let  them  work  together  and 
divide  the  salary,  which  was  ^50  a  year. 

Paton's  health  failed  him,  and  he  returned 
home.  After  recovering  fully  he  returned 
to  Glasgow,  where  he  had  a  hard  struggle 
with  poverty.  At  one  time,  having  no 
money,  he  secured  a  place  as  teacher  of 
the  Mary  Hill  Free  School.  This  school 
had  a  bad  reputation,  many  teachers  hav- 
ing been  forced  to  leave  it  because  of 
trouble  with  the  scholars.  Paton  managed 
by  force  of  kindness  to  make  friends  of  all 
the  pupils ;  and  when  he  finally  left,  the 
school  was  in  a  more  prosperous  condition 
than  it  had  ever  been  before. 

After  leaving  the  school,  he  took  a  posi- 


74  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

tion  as  a  worker  in  the  Glasgow  city  mis- 
sion. In  this  work  he  was  remarkably 
successful.  For  ten  years  he  was  engaged 
in  these  labors,  keeping  up  the  study  of 
theology  all  the  time.  Then,  hearing  that 
a  helper  was  wanted  to  join  the  Rev.  John 
Inglis  in  the  New  Hebrides,  he  offered  him- 
self and  was  accepted.  This  step  was  dis- 
tasteful to  many,  who  insisted  that  there 
were  heathen  enough  at  home  ;  but,  as  Pa- 
ton  says,  those  who  spoke  thus  invariably 
neglected  the  home  heathen  themselves. 
On  the  1 6th  of  April,  1858,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Paton  set  sail  from  Scotland  in  the  Clutha 
for  New  Hebrides. 

They  stopped  a  few  days  at  Melbourne, 
and  from  there  sailed  for  Aneityum,  the 
most  southern  of  the  New  Hebrides.  In 
twelve  days  they  arrived  off  Aneityum ;  but 
the  captain,  a  profane  and  hard-hearted 
man,  refused  to  land  them,  and  the  landing 
was  made  with  great  difficulty,  with  the 
help  of  Dr.  Geddie,  in  mission  boats. 
They  decided  to  settle  on  the  eastern  shore 
of  Tanna,  a  small  island  a  few  miles  north 


JOHN  G.   PATON.  f$ 

of  Aneityum,  which  was  inhabited  by  fero- 
cious savages.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mathieson, 
co-laborers  with  them,  settled  on  the  north- 
western shore  of  the  same  island. 

The  natives  on  Tanna  were  sunk  to  the 
lowest  depths  of  heathenism,  going  about 
with  no  covering  save  an  apron  and  paint 
—  having  no  ideas  of  right  or  wrong,  wor- 
shipping and  fearing  numerous  gods,  liv- 
ing in  a  continual  dread  of  evil  spirits, 
constantly  fighting  among  themselves,  and 
always  eating  the  bodies  of  the  slain  —  such 
were  the  creatures  whom  Paton  and  his 
wife  hoped  to  bring  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
gospel. 

They  landed  on  Tanna  the  5th  of  No- 
vember, 1858.  On  the  1 5th  of  February, 
1859,  a  child  was  born  to  them.  Mrs. 
Paton's  health  from  this  time  on  was  very 
feeble,  and  on  March  3d  she  died  of  a 
sudden  attack  of  pneumonia.  Unaided 
and  alone,  the  bereaved  husband  buried 
his  beloved  wife.  Over  her  body  he  placed 
a  mound  of  stones,  making  it  as  attractive 
as  he  could,  and  then  with  a  heavy  heart 


76  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

turned  to  his  work.  Soon  after  the  child, 
a  boy,  followed  the  mother.  These  two 
sorrows  came  as  a  terrible  blow  to  Paton, 
and  for  some  time  he  was  prostrated.  He 
rallied,  however,  and  began  to  work  hard 
and  steadily  to  enlighten  those  poor  sav- 
ages, who  upon  every  occasion  robbed  and 
abused  him. 

Mr.  Paton,  writing  of  this  period,  says: 
"  On  beholding  these  natives  in  their  paint 
and  nakedness  and  misery,  my  heart  was 
as  full  of  horror  as  of  pity.  Had  I  given 
up  my  much-beloved  work  and  my  dear 
people  in  Glasgow,  with  so  many  delight- 
ful associates,  to  consecrate  my  life  to  these 
degraded  creatures?  Was  it  possible  to 
teach  them  right  and  wrong,  to  Christianize 
or  even  to  civilize  them  ?  But  that  was 
only  a  passing  feeling.  I  soon  got  as 
deeply  interested  in  them,  and  all  that 
tended  to  advance  them,  and  to  lead  them 
to  the  knowledge  of  Jesus,  as  ever  I  had 
been  in  my  work  in  Glasgow." 

The  greatest  opposition  to  his  work  was 
occasioned  by  the  godless  traders  on  the 


JOHN  G.  PA  TON.  77 

island,  who  caused  more  trouble  than  did 
the  natives  themselves.  These  traders  did 
not  relish  the  idea  of  the  natives  being 
taught  the  gospel,  for  they  feared  to  lose 
their  influence  over  them.  They  incited 
the  different  tribes  to  fight  with  each  other, 
and  then  sold  arms  to  the  contestants. 
They  stirred  up  bad  feeling  against  the 
missionaries,  and  urged  the  natives  to 
either  kill  or  drive  them  away. 

From  the  time  he  landed  until  he  left 
Tanna,  Paton  was  in  continual  danger  of 
losing  his  life.  Again  and  again  armed 
bands  came  to  his  house  at  night  to  kill 
him.  He  himself  said  that  he  knew  of 
fifty  times  when  his  life  was  in  imminent 
danger,  and  his  escape  was  due  solely  to 
the  grace  of  God.  Only  once  did  he  re- 
sort to  force,  or  rather  the  appearance  of 
force.  A  cannibal  entered  his  house,  and 
would  have  killed  him,  had  he  not  raised 
an  empty  pistol,  at  sight  of  which  the  cow- 
ardly fellow  fled. 

The  feeling  toward  him  became  so  hos- 
tile that  he  was  obliged  at  last  to  leave  his 


78  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

house,  and  take  refuge  in  the  village  of  a 
friendly  chief  named  Nowar.  Here  he 
prepared  to  leave  that  part  of  the  island, 
and  sail  around  to  Mr.  Mathieson's  station. 
He  secured  a  canoe,  but  when  he  went  to 
launch  it  he  found  there  were  no  paddles. 
After  he  had  managed  to  get  these,  the 
chief  Arkurat  refused  to  let  him  go.  Hav- 
ing prevailed  upon  the  vacillating  savage 
to  consent,  he  finally  sailed  away  with  his 
three  native  helpers  and  a  boy.  The  wind 
and  waves,  however,  forced  them  to  put 
back,  and  after  five  hours  of  hard  rowing 
they  returned  to  the  spot  they  had  left. 
The  only  way  left  now  was  to  walk  over- 
land. He  got  a  friendly  native  to  show 
him  the  path,  and  after  escaping  death 
most  miraculously  on  the  way,  arrived  at 
Mr.  Mathieson's.  Here  they  were  still 
persecuted.  At  one  time  the  mission 
buildings  were  fired,  but  a  tornado  which 
suddenly  came  up  extinguished  the  flames. 
On  the  day  following,  the  ship  which  had 
been  sent  to  rescue  them  arrived  and  they 
embarked.  Thus  Paton  had  to  abandon 


JOHN.   G.  PA  TON.  79 

his  work  on  Tanna,  after  toiling  there  over 
three  years. 

For  a  time  he  sought  needed  rest  and 
change  in  Australia,  where  he  presented 
the  cause  of  missions  to  the  churches. 
On  many  occasions  he  came  into  contact 
with  the  aborigines  of  that  continent,  and 
on  every  occasion  his  love  for  missionary 
work  was  exhibited.  At  one  time,  when 
a  crowd  of  savages  crazed  with  rum 
were  fighting  among  themselves,  he  went 
among  them,  and  by  his  quiet  and  persist- 
ent coaxing,  managed  to  get  them  all  to 
lie  down  and  sleep  off  the  effects  of  the 
spirits. 

From  Australia,  Paton  went  to  Scotland. 
He  travelled  all  over  the  country,  speaking 
in  behalf  of  the  mission.  While  in  Scot- 
land he  married  Margaret  Whitecross,  a 
woman  well  fitted  to  be  the  wife  and 
helper  of  such  a  man.  Leaving  Scotland 
in  the  latter  part  of  1864,  they  arrived  in 
the  New  Hebrides  in  the  early  part  of 
1865. 

In     1866    they    settled    on    Aniwa,    an 


80  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

island  near  Tanna.  The  old  Tannese 
chief,  Nowar,  who  had  always  been 
friendly  to  Paton,  was  very  anxious  to 
have  him  settle  on  Tanna.  Seeing  that 
this  was  impossible,  Nowar  took  from  his 
arm  the  white  shells,  insignia  of  chieftain- 
ship, and  binding  them  to  the  arm  of  a 
visiting  Aniwan  chief,  said:  "By  these  you 
promise  to  protect  my  missionary  and  his 
wife  and  child  on  Aniwa.  Let  no  evil 
befall  them,  or  by  this  pledge  I  and  my 
people  will  avenge  it."  This  act  of  the  old 
chief  did  much  to  insure  the  future  safety 
of  Paton  and  his  family. 

Aniwa  is  a  small  island,  only  nine  miles 
long  by  three  and  one-half  wide.  There 
is  a  scarcity  of  rain,  but  the  heavy  dews 
and  moist  atmosphere  keep  the  land  cov- 
ered with  verdure.  The  natives  were  like 
those  on  Tanna,  although  they  spoke  a  dif- 
ferent language. 

They  were  well  received  by  the  natives, 
who  escorted  them  to  their  temporary 
abode,  and  watched  them  at  their  meals. 
The  first  duty  was  to  build  a  house.  An 


JOffAT  G.  PA  TON.  8 1 

elevated  site  was  purchased,  where  it  was 
afterward  learned  all  the  bones  and  refuse 
of  the  Aniwan  cannibal  feast,  for  years, 
had  been  buried.  The  natives  probably 
thought  that,  when  they  disturbed  these, 
the  missionary  and  his  helpers  would  drop 
dead.  In  building  the  house,  an  incident 
occurred  which  afterward  proved  of  great 
benefit  to  Paton.  One  day,  having  need 
of  some  nails  and  tools,  he  picked  up  a 
chip  and  wrote  a  few  words  on  it.  Hand- 
ing it  to  an  old  chief,  he  told  him  to  take 
it  to  Mrs.  Paton.  When  the  chief  saw  her 
look  at  the  chip  and  then  get  the  things 
needed,  he  was  filled  with  amazement. 
From  that  time  on  he  took  great  inter- 
est in  the  work  of  the  mission,  and  when 
the  Bible  was  being  translated  into  the 
Aniwa  language  he  rendered  invaluable 
aid. 

Another  chief,  with  his  two  sons,  visited 
the  mission-house  and  was  much  inter- 
ested ;  but  when  they  were  returning 
home,  one  of  his  sons  became  very  ill. 
Of  course  he  thought  the  missionary  was 


82  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

to  blame,  and  threatened  to  kill  the  latter ; 
but  when,  by  the  use  of  proper  medicine, 
Paton  brought  the  boy  back  to  health 
again,  the  chief  went  to  the  opposite  ex- 
treme, and  was  ever  afterward  a  most 
devoted  helper. 

The  first  convert  on  Aniwa  was  the  chief 
Mamokei.  He  often  came  to  drink  tea 
with  the  missionary  family,  and  afterward 
brought  with  him  chief  Naswai  and  his 
wife ;  and  all  three  were  soon  converted. 
Mamokei  brought  his  little  daughter  to  be 
educated  in  the  mission.  Many  orphan 
children  were  also  put  under  their  care, 
and  often  these  little  children  warned  them 
of  plots  against  their  lives. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  work  on  Aniwa, 
an  incident  happened  which  was  amusing 
as  well  as  romantic.  A  young  Aniwan 
was  in  love  with  a  young  widow,  living 
in  an  island  village.  Unfortunately,  there 
were  thirty  other  young  men  who  also 
were  suitors  ;  and  as  the  one  who  married 
her  would  probably  be  killed  by  the  others, 
none  dared  to  venture,  After  consulting 


JOHN  G.   PATON:  83 

with  Paton,  the  young  man  went  to  her 
village  at  night  and  stole  away  with  her. 
The  others  were  furious,  but  were  pacified 
by  Paton,  who  made  them  believe  she 
was  not  worth  troubling  themselves  over. 
After  three  weeks  had  passed,  the  young 
man  came  out  of  hiding,  and  asked  per- 
mission to  bring  her  to  the  mission-house, 
which  was  granted.  The  next  day  she 
appeared  in  time  for  services.  As  the  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  a  Christian  on  An- 
iwa  is  that  he  wears  more  clothing  than 
the  heathen  native,  and  as  this  young  lady 
wished  to  show  very  plainly  in  what  direc- 
tion her  sympathies  extended,  she  appeared 
on  the  scene  clad  in  a  variety  and  abun- 
dance of  clothing  which  it  would  be  hard  to 
equal.  It  was  mostly  European,  at  least. 
Over  her  native  grass  skirt  she  wore  a 
man's  drab-colored  great-coat,  sweeping 
over  her  heels.  Over  this  was  a  vest,  and 
on  her  head  was  a  pair  of  trousers,  one 
leg  trailing  over  each  shoulder.  On  one 
shoulder,  also,  was  a  red  shirt,  on  the 
other  a  striped  one;  and,  last  of  all,  a 


84  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

red  shirt  was  twisted  around  her  head  as 
a  turban. 

Many  stories  might  be  told  illustrating 
the  results  of  the  early  efforts  of  the  mis- 
sionary, but  we  pass  on  to  that  of  the  sink- 
ing of  the  well.  As  has  already  been  said, 
there  is  little  rain  on  Aniwa.  The  juice  of 
the  cocoanut  is  largely  used  by  the  natives 
in  place  of  drinking-water.  Paton  resolved 
to  sink  a  well,  much  to  the  astonishment 
of  the  natives,  who,  when  he  explained  his 
plan  to  them,  thought  him  crazy.  He  be- 
gan to  dig ;  and  the  friendly  old  chief  kept 
men  near  him  all  the  time,  for  fear  he 
would  take  his  own  life,  for  they  thought 
surely  he  must  have  gone  mad.  He  man- 
aged to  get  some  of  the  natives  to  help  him, 
paying  them  in  fish-hooks ;  but  when  the 
depth  of  twelve  feet  was  reached  the  sides 
of  the  excavation  caved  in,  and  after  that 
no  native  would  enter  it.  Paton  then  con- 
structed a  derrick ;  and  they  finally  con- 
sented to  help  pull  up  the  loaded  pails, 
while  he  dug.  Day  after  day  he  toiled, 
till  the  hole  was  thirty  feet  deep.  Still  no 


JOHN  G.  PATOtf.  85 

water  was  found.  That  day  he  said  to  the 
old  chief,  "  I  think  Jehovah  God  will  give 
us  water  to-morrow  from  that  hole."  But 
the  chief  said  they  expected  to  see  him  fall 
through  into  the  sea.  Next  morning  he 
sunk  a  small  hole  in  the  bottom  of  the  well, 
and  from  this  hole  there  spurted  a  stream 
of  water.  Filling  the  jug  with  the  water, 
he  passed  it  round  to  the  natives,  telling 
them  to  examine  and  taste  it.  They  were 
so  awe-stricken  that  not  one  dared  look 
over  the  edge  into  the  well.  At  last  they 
formed  a  line,  holding  each  other  by  the 
hand,  and  first  one  looked  over,  then  the 
next,  etc.,  till  all  had  seen  the  water  in 
the  well.  When  they  were  told  that  they 
all  could  use  the  water  from  that  well,  the 
old  chief  exclaimed,  "  Missi,  what  can  we 
do  to  help  you  now  ?  "  He  directed  them 
to  bring  coral  rock  to  line  the  well  with, 
which  they  did  with  a  will.  That  was  the 
beginning  of  a  new  era  on  Aniwa.  The 
following  Sunday  the  chief  preached  a  ser- 
mon on  the  well.  In  the  days  that  followed 
multitudes  of  natives  brought  their  idols  to 


86  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

the  mission,  where  they  were  destroyed 
Henceforth  Christianity  gained  a  perma- 
nent foothold  on  the  island. 

In  1869  the  first  communion  was  held, 
twelve  out  of  twenty  applicants  being  ad- 
mitted to  the  church.  In  speaking  of  his 
emotions  during  the  first  communion,  Paton 
says,  "  I  shall  never  taste  a  deeper  bliss 
until  I  gaze  on  the  glorified  face  of  Jesus 
himself." 

In  1884  he  returned  to  Scotland,  his 
main  object  being  to  secure  ,£6,000  for  a 
mission-ship.  He  addressed  many  assem- 
blages of  different  kinds,  and  succeeded  in 
getting  not  only  the  ,£6,000  required,  but 
,£3,000  beside.  He  returned  to  Aniwa  in 
1886,  and  continued  his  work. 

Recently  he  again  visited  England,  and 
also  the  United  States.  He  is  now  back 
on  Aniwa  —  Aniwa,  no  longer  a  savage 
island,  but  by  the  grace  of  God  a  Christian 
land.  There  he  expects  to  remain  till  sum- 
moned to  his  reward  before  the  heavenly 
throne. 

In  this  sketch  an  attempt  has  been  made 


JOHN.    G.  PA  TON.  8/ 

to  give  only  a  brief  account  of  the  work  of 
this  great  missionary.  No  adequate  idea 
can  be  given  of  his  untiring  zeal,  his  for- 
getfulness  of  self,  and  his  simple  faith  in 
God.  It  is  probable  that  no  one  has  ever 
visited  America  in  the  interest  of  foreign 
missions  who  has  made  so  deep  an  impres- 
sion of  the  triumphs  of  the  gospel  among 
vicious  and  degraded  peoples  as  has  the 
eminent  missionary  hero,  John  G.  Paton. 


ALEXANDER  M.   MACK  AY. 

Missionary  to  Uganda. 
BORN  OCT.  13,  1849;  DIED  FEB.  8,  1890. 


ALEXANDER  M.  MACKAY. 

GREEK  and  Roman,  Arab,  Turk,  and 
Christian  pioneer,  at  various  times,  and  ac- 
tuated by  different  purposes,  have  wended 
their  ways  into  the  unknown  land  of  the 
Dark  Continent ;  and  Africa  for  ages  has 
been  the  scene  of  thrilling  adventure,  per- 
ilous labor,  and  sublime  life-sacrifice. 

Livingstone,  Speke,  Gordon,  Stanley, 
Hannington,  and  others,  are  numbered 
among  the  world's  heroes;  and  conspicu- 
ous upon  this  roll  of  noble  men  must  now 
be  written  the  name  of  Alexander  M. 
Mackay. 

Born  Oct.  13,  1849,  m  tne  little  village 
of  Rhynie,  Aberdeen  County,  Scotland,  in 
his  father's  home,  —  the  Free  Church 
Manse,  —  Mr.  Mackay  was  at  once  blessed 
with  a  godly  upbringing  in  the  midst  of 
91 


92  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

intellectual  surroundings.  Mr.  Mackay's 
father  was  a  man  of  great  literary  ability, 
and  for  fourteen  years  carefully  carried  on 
the  daily  instruction  of  his  boy.  At  three 
years  of  age  Alexander  Mackay  read  the 
New  Testament  with  ease,  and  at  seven 
his  text-books  were  Milton's  "  Paradise 
Lost,"  Russell's  "  History  of  Modern  Eu- 
rope," Gibbon's  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire,"  and  Robertson's  "  His- 
tory of  the  Discovery  of  America." 

He  was  his  father's  constant  companion 
in  his  walks ;  and  stories  are  now  told  of 
the  villagers'  wonder  at  seeing  the  boy 
often  "  stop  to  look  for  something  in  the 
road ;  "  while  from  point  of  fact  he  was 
watching  his  father's  stick  trace  the  sup- 
posed course  of  the  Zambesi  River,  or  out- 
line the  demonstrating  of  a  proposition  in 
Euclid.  Letters  were  frequently  received 
at  the  Manse  from  Hugh  Miller,  Sir 
Roderick  Murchison,  and  other  eminent 
scholars,  all  of  which  were  read  and  talked 
about  in  the  family  circle ;  and  in  these 
ways  the  boy's  mind  rapidly  developed. 


ALEXANDER  M.  MAC  KAY.  93 

At  ten  years  of  age  he  had  great  skill 
in  map- making,  and  wonderful  dexterity  in 
type-setting ;  and  very  accurate  were  the 
proof-sheets  turned  out  from  his  little 
printing-press. 

In  1864  he  entered  the  grammar  school 
at  Aberdeen,  and  here  he  worked  well ;  he 
seldom  joined  the  excursions  of  the  young 
people,  but  preferred  to  become  initiated 
in  art  photography,  or  to  watch  the  work- 
men in  the  great  shipyards.  And  thus 
from  different  sources  practical  knowledge 
of  many  things  was  by  him  early  acquired. 

In  1865  Mackay  sustained  a  great  loss 
in  the  death  of  his  mother,  whose  part- 
ing injunction,  to  "  Search  the  Scriptures," 
became  a  duty,  always  continued.  In  the 
fall  of  1867  Mackay  entered  the  Free 
Church  Training  School  for  Teachers,  in 
Edinburgh  ;  and  there  he  won  the  admira- 
tion of  pupils  and  teachers  by  his  scholarly 
ability  for  two  years,  and  then  entered  the 
Edinburgh  University  for  a  three  years' 
course  in  classics,  applied  mechanics,  higher 
mathematics,  and  natural  philosophy,  fol- 


94  GREAT  MISSIONARIES, 

lowed  by  a  year's  study  of  surveying  and  for- 
tification with  Lieutenant  Mackie,  Professor 
of  Engineering.  For  two  years  (1870- 
72),  while  Secretary  of  the  Engineering  So- 
ciety, and  tutor  each  morning  at  George 
Watson's  College,  Mackay  daily  took  the 
tram-car  to  Leith,  and  spent  his  afternoons 
in  model-making,  and  in  turning,  fitting, 
and  erecting  machinery  in  the  engineering 
works  of  Messrs.  Miller  and  Herbert.  His 
evenings  were  employed  in  attending  lec- 
tures on  chemistry  and  geology  at  the 
School  of  Arts  and  other  places.  Sundays 
he  gave  to  regular  attendance  at  religious 
services,  and  to  teaching  in  Dr.  Guthrie's 
Original  Ragged  School. 

In  November,  1873,  Mackay  went  to  Ger- 
many to  study  the  language,  and  at  once 
secured  a  good  position  as  draughtsman  in 
the  Berlin  Union  Engineering  Co.  While 
thus  employed,  he  spent  his  evenings  in 
translating  Llibsen's  "  Differential  and  In- 
tegral Calculus,"  and  in  inventing  an  agri- 
cultural machine,  which  obtained  the  first 
prize  at  the  exhibition  of  steam-engines 


ALEXANDER  M.   MAC  KAY.  95 

held  at  Breslau.  The  directors  of  the  com- 
pany, recognizin  Mackay's  ability,  soon 
made  him  chief  of  the  locomotive  depart- 
ment. 

In  May,  1874,  Mackay  became  a  board- 
ing member  in  the  family  of  Herr  Hofpre- 
diger  Baur,  one  of  the  ministers  at  the 
cathedral,  and  one  of  the  chaplains ;  and 
in  this  cultured  and  pious  home  Mackay 
derived  many  advantages,  and  met  once 
a  week  at  the  Bible  readings,  the  elite 
of  the  Christian  society  of  Berlin,  among 
whom  were  Grafin  von  Arnim,  sister  of 
Prince  Bismarck,  and  Graf  and  Grafin  Eg- 
loffstein,who  gave  great  interest  to  Mackay's 
later  labors. 

At  this  time  Herr  Hofprediger  Baur  was 
actively  engaged  in  a  German  translation 
of  the  life  of  Bishop  Patteson ;  and  this 
work,  together  with  the  Professor's  sympa- 
thy, proved  a  stimulus  to  the  decision 
Mackay  had  already  made  to  devote  his  life 
to  missionary  work ;  this  decision  having 
been  arrived  at  after  reading  his  sister's 
account  of  Dr.  Burns  Thompson's  urgent 


g6  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

appeal  to  young  men  to  go  to  Madagascar. 
With  Mackay  to  decide  was  to  act ;  but  as 
he  could  not  at  once  enter  the  field  as 
clergyman  or  doctor,  he  determined  to  do 
so  as  engineering  missionary  (a  most  prac- 
tical and  far-sighted  determination)  ;  and, 
blessed  with  his  father's  sanction,  he  offered 
his  services  to  the  London  Missionary  So- 
ciety, but  was  answered  that  Madagascar 
"was  not  yet  ripe  for  his  assistance."  At 
this  time  Mackay  received  an  offer  of  part- 
nership in  a  large  engineering  firm  in  Mos- 
cow, which  without  hesitation  he  refused, 
believing  an  opening  for  him  in  mission- 
work  would  soon  be  found. 

In  1875  t^ie  Daily  Telegraph  published 
Stanley's  famous  letter  "  challenging  Chris- 
tendom to  send  missionaries  to  Uganda ;  " 
and  the  Church  Missionary  Society  gladly 
accepted  Mackay's  offer  of  service  in  their 
future  mission  to  the  Victoria  Nyanza. 
Early  in  March,  Mackay  returned  to  Eng- 
land ;  and  in  the  development  of  plans 
the  Church  Missionary  Society  determined 
to  combine  the  industrial  with  the  religious 


ALEXANDER  M.  MAC  KAY.  97 

element,  and  sanctioned  the  purchase  of  a 
light  cedar  boat  for  navigation,  and  also 
appropriated  three  hundred  pounds  for  a 
portable  engine  and  boiler  to  be  fitted  into 
a  wooden  boat  to  be  built  by  the  missiona- 
ries on  the  Nyanza.  Many  weary  days 
Mackay  gave  to  finding,  in  London,  an 
engineer  who  would  build  an  engine  on 
the  principle  of  welded  rings,  each  light 
enough  to  be  transported  by  two  men. 
But  finally  an  engine  after  his  own  design 
was  built,  and  tools  of  all  kinds  were  ready 
for  the  enterprise  ;  and  on  the  2/th  of 
April,  1876,  in  a  company  of  eight,  Mackay 
left  England  in  the  Peshawur,  and  arrived 
at  Zanzibar  May  29. 

To  facilitate  the  journey  to  the  great 
lake,  the  mission  party  intended  to  sail  up 
the  Wami  River,  and  on  the  i2th  of  June 
Mackay  and  Lieutenant  Smith  started  in 
the  Daisy  on  a  voyage  of  exploration,  but, 
after  many  days  of  hardship,  they  found 
both  the  Wami  and  Kingani  Rivers  un- 
navigable,  and  were  obliged  to  proceed  in- 
land on  foot.  At  Ugogo,  in  November, 


98  ORE  A  T  MISSIONARIES. 

Mackay,  who  had  charge  of  the  third  sec- 
tion of  the  caravan,  was  taken  seriously  ill, 
and  was  obliged  to  return  to  the  coast, 
where  he  was  instructed  by  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  to  delay  starting  for 
the  interior  until  June,  1877.  He  em- 
ployed the  intervening  time  in  sending  a 
relief  caravan  to  his  brethren  on  the  lake, 
and  in  cutting  a  good  road  to  Mpwapa, 
two  hundred  and  thirty  miles  inland. 

March,  1878,  Mackay  heard  of  the  mur- 
der of  Lieutenant  Smith  and  Mr.  O'Neill, 
who  had  reached  the  lake  months  before, 
and  hurried  with  all  speed  to  the  scene  of 
the  disaster,  the  island  of  Ukerewe,  hop- 
ing by  friendly  intervention  to  prevent 
further  bloodshed. 

June  13  he  arrived  at  Kagei,  and  had 
his  first  glimpse  of  the  great  lake.  With 
joy  he  realized  that  the  worst  part  of  his 
journey  was  over.  Piled  together  in  a  hut, 
Mackay  found  much  of  the  valuable  prop- 
erty conveyed  to  this  point  by  the  first  sec- 
tions of  the  expedition,  and  left  in  charge 
of  the  natives.  Heaped  together  lay  boiler- 


ALEXANDER  M.   MACKAY.  99 

shells  and  books,  papers  and  piston-rods, 
steam-pipes  and  stationery,  printers'  types, 
saws,  and  garden-seed,  tins  of  bacon  and 
bags  of  clothes,  portable  forges  and  boiler- 
fittings,  here  a  cylinder,  there  its  sole  plate. 

"  Ten  days'  hard  work  from  dawn  to 
dark,  and,"  Mackay  wrote,  "  the  engines 
for  our  steamer  stand  complete  to  the  last 
screw;  the  boiler  is  ready  to  be  riveted, 
tools  and  types  have  separate  boxes,  and 
rust  and  dust  are  thrown  out  of  doors.  It 
seems  a  miracle  that  I  find  almost  every- 
thing complete,  even  to  its  smallest  be- 
longing, after  a  tedious  voyage  of  seven 
hundred  miles."  The  Daisy,  rebuilt  by 
O'Neill,  but  now  greatly  damaged,  em- 
ployed Mackay's  attention  ;  and  setting  up 
his  rotary  grindstone,  to  the  wonderment 
of  the  natives,  he  patched  the  sides  and 
calked  the  seams,  and  made  the  boat 
again  seaworthy. 

After  his  great  labor  in  repairs,  Mackay, 
in  spite  of  danger  to  himself,  visited  Uke- 
rewe,  and  with  tactful  courage  held  a 
friendly  visit  with  King  Lkonge.  After 


100  GREAT  MISSIONARIES, 

this  visit  Mackay  was  a  victim  of  dysen- 
tery ;  but  at  length,  joined  by  Mr.  Wilson, 
and  favored  with  a  good  breeze,  he  sailed 
in  the  Daisy  for  Uganda.  Four  days  of 
fine  sailing,  and  then  they  were  wrecked ; 
and  eight  weeks  of  hard  labor  was  given 
to  making  a  new  boat  out  of  the  Daisy. 

Mackay  finally  reached  Rubaga,  the 
capital  of  Uganda,  Nov.  6.  A  friendly  in- 
terview was  at  once  had  with  King  Mtesa, 
who  had  told  Stanley  to  send  the  "  white 
men,"  and  for  a  time  affairs  at  court  went 
smoothly.  Mtesa  and  his  subjects  were 
much  interested  by  accounts  of  railways, 
electricity,  astronomy,  and  physiology ;  and 
Mackay  gained  great  influence  by  his  me- 
chanical skill,  which  caused  wonder  and 
admiration. 

Mtesa  appeared  very  anxious  to  hear 
more  about  the  Christian  religion  to  which 
Stanley  had  introduced  him,  and  every 
Sunday  religious  services  were  held  at 
court.  From  the  first,  the  Arabs  who 
centred  in  Rubaga  were  jealous  of  Mac- 
kay, fearing  his  influence  would  overthrow 


ALEXANDER  M.  MACKAY.  IOI 

the  slave  traffic,  which  brought  them  here 
as  elsewhere  in  Africa.  They  used  all 
means  to  turn  Mtesa  against  the  white 
man,  the  most  potent  of  which  were  the 
rich  presents,  including  fire-arms,  pre- 
sented to  the  king. 

The  Arabs  were  no  more  formidable 
enemies  to  Mackay  than  were  the  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries,  who  came  soon  after 
his  arrival,  confusing  Mtesa  with  their 
claims  to  the  true  religion,  and  instituting 
a  cruel  persecution  against  the  Protestants. 

In  April,  1880,  Mackay,  finding  his  store 
of  goods  nearly  exhausted  by  the  thieving 
of  Mtesa's  chiefs,  went  to  Uyui  for  sup- 
plies, and  during  this  trip  barely  escaped 
being  murdered  by  the  natives.  At  this 
time  Mtesa  turned  entirely  away  from  the 
teachings  which  Mackay  and  his  friends 
had  labored  for  two  years  to  inculcate, — 
two  years  of  labor,  poverty,  danger,  and 
ofttimes  threatened  starvation,  Mackay 
keeping  his  comrades  alive  by  the  sale  of 
articles  made  by  himself  in  his  workshop. 

"  Besides  teaching   his  pupils  reading, 


102  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

writing,  and  arithmetic,  Mackay  gave  them 
daily  lessons  "  in  building  and  designing. 
He  built  a  house  for  the  mission  party, 
which  was  a  source  of  wonder  to  all,  and 
caused  Mtesa  to  ask  instruction  for  the 
natives  in  wood  and  iron  ;  and  when  Mac- 
kay asked  a  piece  of  ground  to  build  huts 
on,  he  at  once  gave  him  twenty  acres. 
To  the  natives  Mackay's  most  wonderful 
achievement  was  a  cart  painted  red  and 
blue,  and  drawn  by  oxen. 

From  time  to  time  Mackay's  great  work 
was  supplemented  by  co-laborers  sent  by 
the  Church  Missionary  Society ;  and  in 
March,  1881,  his  heart  was  delighted 
by  the  baptism  of  five  converts  by  Mr. 
O'Flaherty.  Early  in  1883  the  Rev.  E. 
C.  Gordon  and  Mr.  Wise  joined  Mackay ; 
in  May  of  the  same  year  the  Rev.  R.  P. 
Ashe  arrived,  and  the  prospects  of  the 
Mission  were  most  encouraging  until  Oc- 
tober, 1884,  when  Mtesa  died. 

The  king's  son,  Mwanga,  succeeded  to 
the  throne  —  a  youth  with  all  his  father's 
vices  and  none  of  his  virtues ;  and  a  reign 


ALEXANDER  M.  MACK  AY.  1 03 

of  blood  and  terror  followed,  beginning1 
with  the  burning  of  two  Christian  lads, 
who  met  their  death  with  songs  of  praise, 
and  were  the  first  martyrs  to  the  faith  in 
Uganda.  The  storm  of  persecution  spent 
its  full  force  in  October,  1885,  when  news 
reached  the  king  that  white  men  had  come 
by  the  Masai  route,  and  were  entering 
Uganda  by  the  "  back  door."  Orders  were 
sent  to  kill  the  whole  party.  Prevented 
from  leaving  the  court,  Ashe  and  Mackay 
awaited  in  dread  suspense,  which  gave  way 
to  despair,  when  news  of  Bishop  Hanning- 
ton's  death  was  confirmed.  In  the  months 
that  followed,  lives  of  missionaries  and  con- 
verts were  in  constant  danger;  still  the 
gospel  spread,  and  young  men  came  daily 
to  the  mission  house  for  translated  copies. 
In  May,  1886,  thirty  of  the  missionaries' 
faithful  converts  were  slowly  burned  alive. 
Mackay  was  now  anxious  to  get  out  of  the 
country,  but  was  refused  permission  to 
leave.  New  missionaries  with  presents 
would  have  bought  his  escape ;  but  he 
would  not  write  for  men  to  come  to 


IO4  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

Uganda  in  the  disturbed  condition  of  af- 
fairs, so  bravely  stayed  on,  even  after  he 
had  unselfishly  obtained  leave  for  Ashe 
to  go. 

Alone,  weary  in  soul  and  body,  his  life 
in  imminent  danger,  Mackay  worked  early 
and  late  in  translating  and  printing  the 
Scriptures.  News  of  the  Emin  Pasha  ex- 
pedition reached  the  king ;  and  warned  by 
French  priests  that  Stanley  and  Mackay 
would  put  their  heads  together  to  "  eat  the 
country,"  Mwanga  decided  that  Mackay 
must  leave  Uganda.  Arranging  that  Mr. 
Gordon  should  come  to  care  for  the  con- 
verts, who  were  only  comforted  by  his  as- 
surances that  he  was  but  going  to  the  south 
of  the  lake,  Mackay  turned  away  from  the 
country  where  he  had  spent  nine  eventful 
years,  —  years  of  deep  experiences,  of  toils 
and  privations ;  years  that  had  silvered  his 
hair  and  calmed  the  restless  impulses  of  his 
youth ;  but  his  watchword  was  unchanged 
—  "Africa  for  Christ." 

After  much  weary  wandering,  Mackay 
fell  in  with  a  friendly  chief  in  the  land  of 


ALEXANDER  M.   MAC  KAY.  1O5 

Usambiro ;  and  here,  single-handed^and 
alone,  he  began  the  great  work  of 
mission  station.  A  band  of  five 
headed  by  Bishop  Parker,  and  incl 
his  old  friend  and  fellow  worker,  Ash£, 
soon  came  to  cheer  his  lonely  life.  A  few% 
happy  weeks  together  —  then  Bishop  Par- 
ker and  Mr.  Blackburn  died  of  fever; 
Mr.  Walker  went  to  Uganda;  Mr.  Ashe 
was  compelled  to  return  home  on  account 
of  bad  health  ;  Mackay  was  again  alone. 

And  again  this  all-round  missionary  set 
himself  to  the  work  of  teaching,  translat- 
ing, printing,  binding,  doctoring,  and  build- 
ing ;  and  in  the  midst  of  these  many  and 
arduous  labors,  he  found  time  to  give  to  the 
world  practical  suggestions,  now  being  car- 
ried out;  viz.,  "  Stations  all  over  Uganda," 
and,  "  a  railway  from  the  coast  to  the 
lake." 

In  September,  1889,  Stanley  visited 
Mackay  on  his  return  to  the  coast,  and 
"  In  Darkest  Africa  "  gives  with  unstinted 
praise  an  account  of  the  mission  station, 
with  its  clay-built  house  "garnished  with 


106  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

missionary  pictures,  and  shelves  filled  with 
choice,  useful  books,  its  hospitable  table 
with  wholesome  food  (home-made  bread 
and  coffee)  ;  the  mission-school  of  neat, 
well-mannered  boys,  a  launch's  boiler,  and 
a  canoe  under  construction,  saw-pits,  and 
cattle-fold,  all  the  work  of  "  the  best  mis- 
sionary since  Livingstone." 

Stanley  and  his  party  urged  Mackay  to 
join  the  homeward  expedition,  but  with 
characteristic  fidelity  he  refused  to  leave 
until  some  one  came  to  take  his  place. 
"  European  platforms  and  royal  recep- 
tions" were  never  his;  but  Feb.  8,  1890, 
his  tireless  energy  rested,  and  the  title- 
deeds  of  his  labor  were  recorded,  in  divine 
Presence,  upon  the  brow  of  every  con- 
verted black  in  Uganda. 


ROBERT  M OFF  AT. 

Missionary  in  Africa. 
BORN  DEC.  21,  1795;  DIED  AUG.  10,  1883. 


ROBERT  MOFFAT. 

"  From  scenes  like  these  old  Scotia's  grandeur  springs, 

That  makes  her  loved  at  home,  revered  abroad ; 
Princes  and  lords  are  but  the  breath  of  kings, 
'  An  honest  man's  the  noblest  work  of  God ; ' 
And  certes,  in  fair  Virtue's  heavenly  road, 
The  cottage  leaves  the  palace  far  behind." 

LOOKING  backward,  Robert  Moffat  could 
clearly  trace  the  trend  of  his  life's  pur- 
poses to  the  gentle  but  unconscious  influ- 
ence of  his  mother,  who,  in  the  little 
cottage  home  at  Carronshore,  Scotland, 
gathered  her  lads  around  the  fireside  on 
winter  nights,  while  she  read  aloud  accounts 
of  missionary  labors  in  heathen  lands. 
Born  Dec.  21,  1795,  Robert  had  few 
educational  advantages ;  and,  living  in  the 
midst  of  shipping,  he  early  turned  from 
"Wully  Mitchell's"  teaching  of  the 
109 


1 1 0  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

"  Shorter  Catechism,"  and  "  went  to  sea." 
In  the  peril  of  wind  and  waves  many  dan- 
gers were  mentioned  by  him,  and  hair- 
breadth escapes  chronicled ;  but  to  his 
parents'  joy  he  gave  up  nautical  pursuits, 
and  entered  school  at  Falkirk. 

When  but  fourteen  years  old  he  was  ap- 
prenticed to  a  gardener.  His  work  was 
laborious,  and  his  comforts  scanty;  yet 
withal  he  attended  an  evening  school,  and 
learned  something  of  Latin  and  mensura- 
tion. Two  years  later  he  was  employed  as 
under  gardener  by  Mr.  Leigh,  of  High 
Leigh,  Cheshire  ;  and  there,  at  the  meet- 
ings of  the  Wesleyan  Methodists,  Robert 
became  converted.  Soon  after  his  conver- 
sion some  duty  took  him  to  Warrington, 
six  miles  distant ;  and  as  he  crossed  the 
bridge  to  the  town,  he  saw  a  placard  an- 
nouncing a  missionary  meeting,  to  be  held 
under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Wm.  Roby 
of  Manchester.  Thoughts  of  his  mother's 
reading,  in  the  long  ago,  flooded  his  mem- 
ory ;  and  the  determination  to  devote  his 
life  to  missionary  work  was  instantly 


ROBER  T  MOFFA  T.  Ill 

formed.  Later,  an  interview  with  Mr. 
Roby  resulted  in  Moffat  accepting  a  po- 
sition in  Mr.  Smith's  nursery  garden,  at 
Durkinfield,  near  Manchester ;  and  then  he 
began  to  prepare  himself  for  the  mission- 
field  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Roby.  While 
thus  at  work,  Robert  became  engaged  to 
his  employer's  daughter,  Mary  Smith. 
.  A  year  later  Robert  Moffat  went  to 
Manchester  for  a  few  months  of  college 
training,  and  then  accepted  a  position  un- 
der the  London  Missionary  Society,  and 
with  four  co-laborers  sailed  for  South 
Africa,  Oct.  18,  1816.  Cape  Town  was 
reached  Jan.  13,  1817;  and  while  waiting 
for  a  passport  from  the  government  to  go 
into  the  interior,  Moffat  boarded  in  a  farm- 
er's family  at  Stellenbosch,  and  passed  his 
time  in  acquiring  the  Dutch  language, 
which  enabled  him  to  preach  to  the  Boers. 
In  September,  in  company  with  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Kichingman,  Moffat,  in  charge  of  a 
long  trail  of  wagons  drawn  by  oxen,  started 
for  the  Namaqualand  Mission.  The  natives 
at  this  station  were  ruled  by  Africaner,  an 


1 1 2  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

outlaw,  and  a  terror  to  the  farmers  of  the 
colony,  but  friendly  to  the  English.  After 
a  dreary  march,  during  which  many  of  the 
oxen  became  prey  to  the  hyenas,  the  band 
of  missionaries  reached  Bysondermeid. 
Here  Robert  Moffat  remained  with  the 
Kichingmans  for  a  month,  and  then,  aided 
by  a  guide,  proceeded  to  the  interior.  The 
way  inland  lay  through  a  trackless  desert. 
Here  the  oxen  became  so  exhausted,  a  halt 
was  called  before  water  could  be  reached, 
and  Moffat  was  obliged  to  send  to  Mr. 
Bartlett  at  Pella  for  oxen  accustomed  to 
travel  in  deep  sand.  "Three  days,"  says 
Robert  Moffat,  "  I  remained  with  my  wagon- 
driver  on  this  burning  plain,  with  scarcely 
a  breath  of  wind,  and  what  there  was  felt 
as  if  coming  from  the  mouth  of  an  oven." 
Jan.  26,  1818,  the  train  reached  Afri- 
caner's kraal,  and  received  a  warm  welcome 
from  Mr.  Ebner,  who,  a  few  days  after,  was 
obliged  to  depart,  leaving  Robert  Moffat, 
a  stranger  in  the  midst  of  a  strange  people  ; 
but  the  heart  of  the  young  missionary 
was  soon  cheered  by  the  regular  attendance 


ROBER  T  MOFFA  T.  113 

of  Africaner  at  the  religious  services,  and 
his  conversion  was  followed  by  two  of  his 
brothers,  who  became  such  efficient  assist- 
ants in  the  school  and  mission  services  that 
Moffat  was  soon  able  to  undertake  itinerat- 
ing visits.  These  journeys  were  frequently 
attended  by  dangers  and  privations,  and 
an  indomitable  will  alone  sustained  life. 

Two  trips,  to  find  a  more  healthful  loca- 
tion for  the  mission,  were  unsuccessfully 
made  ;  and  for  twelve  months  Moffat  lived 
and  labored  at  Namaqualand  as  missionary, 
as  carpenter,  smith,  cooper,  shoemaker, 
miller,  baker,  and  housekeeper. 

In  1819  Moffat  decided  to  visit  Cape 
Town  for  supplies,  and  to  introduce  Afri- 
caner to  the  notice  of  the  Colonial  Gov- 
ernment. To  get  the  outlaw  through  the 
territories  of  the  Dutch  farmers,  where  his 
former  atrocities  were  not  forgotten,  re- 
quired nerveful  tact,  but  was  successfully 
done,  and  Africaner  was  cordially  welcomed 
by  the  governor  at  Cape  Town.  Moffat 
had  intended  to  return  to  Namaqualand, 
but  yielded  to  the  wish  of  the  London 


1 14  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

Missionary  Society  deputation  then  at 
Cape  Town,  to  accompany  them  in  their 
visits  to  missionary  stations,  and  later  to 
accept  a  mission  at  the  Bechwana  station. 
Africaner,  hoping  to  move  his  tribe  to 
Moffat's  new  station,  journeyed  home 
alone,  conveying"  in  his  wagon,  presented 
by  the  governor,  many  of  the  effects  des- 
tined for  the  future  field.  The  deputa- 
tion, after  visiting  stations  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  colony  and  at  Kafirland,  were 
barred  from  further  progress  by  war,  and 
returned  to  Cape  Town.  Here,  on  the  2  7th 
of  December,  1819,  Robert  Moffat  received 
his  affianced  wife,  and  soon  after  her  arri- 
val they  were  married. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1820,  the 
Moffats,  with  the  Rev.  John  Campbell, 
started  for  the  Bechwana  station  at  Latta- 
koo,  but  were  detained  at  Griqua  Town  for 
several  months ;  and  here  was  born  their 
daughter  Mary,  afterwards  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Livingstone. 

In  May,  1821,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moffat  ar- 
rived at  Lattakoo,  and  commenced  their 


ROBER  T  MOFFA  T.  1 1  $ 

work  among  a  people  who  were  "  thor- 
oughly sensual,  and  who  could  rob,  lie,  and 
murder  without  any  compunctions  of  con- 
science, as  long  as  success  attended  their 
efforts." 

In  1822  Moffat  wrote  :  "  They  turn  a  deaf 
ear  to  the  voice  of  love,  and  scorn  the 
doctrines  of  salvation,  but  affairs  in  general 
assume  a  more  hopeful  aspect.  They  have 
in  several  instances  relinquished  the  bar- 
barous system  of  commandoes  for  stealing 
cattle.  They  have  also  dispensed  with  a 
rain-maker  this  season." 

A  little  later  in  the  same  year,  Robert 
Moffat  said,  "  Mary,  this  is  hard  work,  and 
no  fruit  yet  appears  ;  "  and  his  wife  wisely 
answered,  "  The  gospel  has  not  yet  been 
preached  to  them  in  their  own  tongue  in 
which  they  were  born."  From  that  time 
Moffat  devoted  himself  to  the  acquisition 
of  the  language,  and  for  that  purpose  he 
often  visited  tribes  remote  from  his  station. 

No  words  can  tell  of  the  labors  of 
Robert  and  Mary  Moffat  in  these  early 
days.  In  addition  to  privations,  discour- 


1 1 6  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

agements,  and  loss  of  property,  their  lives 
were  often  in  danger.  Once,  when  no  rain 
fell,  these  missionaries  were  accused  of 
causing  the  drought,  and  at  the  point  of  the 
spear  were  told  to  leave  the  land.  Throw- 
ing open  his  waistcoat,  Robert  Moffat  said 
(fortified  by  the  courage  of  his  wife,  who 
stood  at  the  door  of  their  cottage  with  her 
baby  in  her  arms),  "  If  you  will,  drive  your 
spear  to  my  heart.  We  know  you  will 
not  touch  our  wives  and  children."  The 
would-be  murderers  turned  away,  saying, 
"These  men  must  have  ten  lives,  when 
they  are  so  fearless  of  death."  The  good 
will  of  the  tribe  was  at  last  gained  by  the 
able  efforts  of  the  missionaries  in  planning 
a  defence  against  the  Mantatees,  who  at- 
tacked the  station  with  murderous  intent. 
Deeply  sensible  of  the  kindness  of  the  Mof- 
fats,  who  might  at  this  time  have  retired  to 
the  colony,  the  Bechwanas  gave  their  con- 
sent to  moving  the  station  to  a  place  eight 
miles  distant,  at  the  source  of  the  river 
Kuruman.  In  view  of  proper  remu- 
neration, the  Bechwana  chiefs  arranged 


ROBER  T  MOFFA  T.  1 1  / 

that  two  miles  of  the  Kuruman  Valley 
should  henceforth  be  the  property  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society,  and  that  the 
new  station,  "  Kuruman,"  should  here  be 
established. 

Referring  to  this  time,  Robert  Moffat 
afterwards  said :  "  Our  situation  during 
the  infancy  of  the  new  station,  language 
cannot  describe.  We  were  compelled  to 
work  daily  at  every  species  of  labor." 
Notwithstanding  all  difficulties,  this  earnest 
man  made  considerable  progress  towards 
establishing  a  literature  in  the  Sechwana 
tongue.  A  spelling-book  and  catechism 
were  prepared,  and  sent  to  England  to  be 
printed.  In  1826,  having  moved  into  his 
new  dwelling,  built  of  stone,  and  the 
country  being  comparatively  free  from 
danger,  Moffat  left  his  family,  and  went 
for  a  time  to  live  among  the  Barolongs, 
that  he  might  become  proficient  in  the 
Sechwana  language.  While  among  these 
tribes,  the  missionary  sought  every  oppor- 
tunity to  impart  Christian  instruction  to 
the  people. 


1 1 8  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES, 

Ten  years  the  Moffats  labored  without 
seeing  any  results,  when  suddenly,  without 
apparent  cause,  a  great  religious  interest 
arose  among  the  natives ;  the  little  chapel 
became  too  small  to  hold  the  numbers  who 
came  to  receive  the  gospel.  By  voluntary 
aid,  a  new  building,  fifty-one  feet  by  six- 
teen feet,  with  clay  walls  and  thatched 
roof,  was  erected,  and  served  as  school- 
house  and  place  of  worship  until  the  large 
stone  church  was  completed.  A  change  of 
habits  instantly  followed  this  awakening. 
Mrs.  Moffat  was  called  upon  to  open  a  sew- 
ing-school, and  motley  were  the  groups  gath- 
ered about  her,  all  anxious  to  form  garments 
to  wear,  although  jackets,  trousers,  and 
gowns  had  never  before  adorned  their  forms. 

When  a  friend  at  home  wrote  to  Mary 
Moffat,  asking  what  could  be  sent  her  that 
would  be  of  use,  the  answer  was,  "  Send  a 
Communion  service ;  it  will  be  wanted." 
At  that  time  there  were  no  converts  and 
no  "  glimmer  of  day."  Three  years  later, 
a  hundred  and  twenty  were  present  at 
the  table  of  the  Lord,  the  first  among  the 


ROBER  T  MOFFA  T.  1 1 9 

Bechwanas ;  and  the  day  previous  there 
arrived  a  box  which  contained  the  Com- 
munion vessels  which  the  faith  of  Mrs. 
Moffat  had  led  her  to  ask  for  before  there 
was  a  single  inquirer. 

In  the  fall  of  1829  two  envoys  came 
from  Mosilikatse,  King  of  the  Matabele,  to 
learn  about  the  manners  and  teachings  of 
the  white  men.  Later,  Mr.  Moffat  visited 
this  tribe,  was  kindly  received,  and  told  to 
them  the  story  of  the  Resurrection.  In 
June,  1830,  Moffat  had  finished  the  trans- 
lation of  St.  Luke  ;  and  to  get  this  printed, 
and  to  place  their  two  eldest  children  at 
school,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moffat  went  to  Cape 
Town.  Here  Robert  Moffat  acquired  a  fair 
knowledge  of  printing,  and  applied  himself 
so  assiduously  to  the  work,  that  a  severe 
illness  followed.  This  and  the  birth  of  an- 
other daughter  delayed  the  missionaries ; 
but  in  June,  1831,  they  returned  to  Kuru- 
man,  and  took  with  them  an  edition  of  St. 
Luke,  and  a  hymn-book  in  Sechwana,  a 
printing-press,  and  liberal  subscriptions  for 
the  erection  of  the  mission-church,  The 


I2O  GREAT  MISSIONARIES, 

timber  for  this  church  was  cut  and  col- 
lected under  supervision  of  Mr.  Hamilton 
and  Mr.  Edwards,  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  the  Kuruman  Station,  and 
brought  there  in  ox-teams.  This  church 
was  opened  November,  1838,  and  nine 
hundred  people  were  in  attendance  at  the 
first  service  ;  the  following  Sunday  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  members  celebrated  the 
Lord's  Supper. 

In  the  spring  of  1839  Robert  Moffat 
completed  the  translation  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  for  purposes  of  printing 
went  to  England  with  his  wife,  after  an 
absence  of  twenty-two  years.  During  the 
voyage  another  daughter  was  born  to 
them,  and  their  son  Jamie,  six  years  old, 
died.  The  Moffats  received  a  very  warm 
welcome  in  England ;  and  at  this  time 
"  a  wave  of  missionary  enthusiasm  "  swept 
over  the  country,  and  great  was  the 
demand  for  Mr.  Moffat  to  address  pub- 
lic meetings.  While  in  England,  it  was 
thought  best  to  add  the  Psalms  to  the 
Sechwana  edition  of  the  New  Testament ; 


ROBER  T  MOFFA  T.  121 

and  with  characteristic  energy,  Moffat  im- 
mediately began  the  work  of  translating, 
and  sent  to  Ross  and  David  Livingstone, 
then  at  Bechwana  Mission,  six  thousand 
copies  of  the  new  work.  Moffat  then 
wrote  his  well-known  book,  "  Missionary 
Labors  and  Scenes  in  South  Africa  ;  "  and 
it  was  not  until  January,  1843,  that  he  and 
Mrs.  Moffat  sailed  for  Africa.  The  na- 
tives at  Kuruman  received  them  with  un- 
bounded joy. 

Soon  after  their  return  their  eldest 
daughter,  Mary,  was  married  to  David 
Livingstone,  and  went  with  him  to  Chon- 
wane.  Affairs  at  the  Kuruman  were  now 
very  prosperous.  Moffat  worked  steadily 
at  translation ;  Mrs.  Moffat,  his  faithful 
helpmate,  leaving  him  only  to  visit  the 
Livingstones  and  to  go  to  Cape  Town 
with  her  youngest  children,  who  were 
going  to  England  to  be  educated.  In 
1856  Moffat  completed  his  translation  of 
the  entire  Bible,  a  work  of  thirty  years. 

"  I  felt  it  to  be  an  awful  thing,"  he  says, 
"  to  translate  the  Book  of  God.  When  I 


122  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

had  finished  the  last  verse,  I  could  hardly 
believe  that  I  was  in  the  world,  so  difficult 
was  it  for  me  to  realize  that  my  work  of 
so  many  years  was  completed.  A  feeling 
came  over  me  as  if  I  should  die.  .  .  .  My 
heart  beat  like  the  strokes  of  a  hammer. 
.  .  .  My  emotions  found  vent  by  my  fall- 
ing on  my  knees,  and  thanking  God  for 
his  grace  and  goodness  for  giving  me 
strength  to  accomplish  my  task." 

At  this  time  Livingstone  was  in  Eng- 
land ;  and,  as  a  result  of  his  accounts,  the 
directors  wrote  to  Robert  Moffat  asking 
him  to  go  for  twelve  months  to  Matabele. 
In  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  had  worked  for 
the  company  forty-one  years,  and  was  then 
sixty-two  years  old,  Robert  MofTat  left  his 
home  at  Kuruman,  and  started  for  a  long 
and  toilsome  journey  through  the  African 
desert.  He  spent  many  months  at  "  In- 
yati,"  the  seat  of  the  missions  of  the  Mata- 
bele, and  spared  neither  labor  of  body  nor 
mind.  In  June,  1860,  feeling  the  station 
was  well  established,  he  returned  to  Kuru- 
man. In  1862  Robert  and  Mary  MofTat 


ROBERT  MOFFAT,  123 

suffered  severe  bereavement  in  the  death 
of  their  son  Robert,  and  of  their  daughter 
Mary  Livingstone.  In  1868,  having  estab- 
lished his  son,  the  Rev.  John  Moffat,  at 
Kuruman,  Robert  Moffat  determined,  re- 
luctantly, to  accept  the  directors'  invitation 
to  return  to  England.  On  Sunday,  March 
20,  1870,  he  preached  for  the  last  time  in 
the  Kuruman  church ;  and  the  following 
Friday  "  Ramary "  and  "Mamary,"  as  the 
dearly  beloved  missionary  and  his  wife 
were  called,  left  the  home  in  which  they 
had  so  long  and  so  faithfully  labored,  amid 
a  pitiful  wail  from  the  natives,  whose  hearts 
were  wrung  with  genuine  sorrow. 

July  24,  1870,  Robert  and  Mary  Moffat 
arrived  in  England,  after  an  absence  of 
over  fifty  years,  during  which  time  they  had 
visited  their  native  land  but  once.  They 
were  welcomed  everywhere  with  marked 
cordiality,  and  on  his  birthday  a  thousand 
pounds  was  given  Mr.  Moffat.  A  few 
months  after  their  return  Mary  Moffat  died. 
Her  last  words  were  a  prayer  for  her  hus- 
band, that  he  might  be  given  strength  to 
bear  her  loss.  Fifty-three  years  she  had 


124  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

faithfully  shared  his  labors.  In  1872  sev- 
eral thousand  pounds  were  subscribed  for 
a  training-school  for  natives  in  Bechwana  ; 
and  the  directors  honored  their  veteran 
missionary  by  calling  it  the  "  Moffat  Insti- 
tute." Later  his  friends  gave  to  Robert 
Moffat  five  thousand  pounds,  a  liberal 
competency  for  himself  and  his  widowed 
daughter,  Mrs.  Fredoux.  In  1874  Mr. 
Moffat  was  called  upon  to  identify  the  re- 
mains of  his  son-in-law,  Dr.  Livingstone, 
who  had  died  in  Central  Africa.  In  1876 
Mr.  Moffat  was  entertained  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  by  the  Rev. 
Newman  Hall,  where  he  met  Mr.  Glad- 
stone. In  1877  he  visited  Paris,  and 
addressed  four  thousand  Sunday-school 
children. 

The  last  four  years  of  his  life  were  spent 
at  Park  Cottage,  Leigh,  near  Tunbridge. 

On  the  loth  of  August,  1883,  in  his 
eighty-eighth  year,  he  passed  peacefully  to 
rest. 

"  His  count  of  years  was  full ; 
His  allotted  task  was  wrought." 

As  a  fitting  close  to  this  sketch  I  quote 


ROBER T  MOFFA  T.  12$ 

from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Thompson, 
D.D.,  of  Boston,  who  was  present  at  the 
World's  Missionary  Conference  in  London 
in  1878:  — 

"  '  Nothing  but  a  missionary ! '  But  the  man 
who  gave  that  toss  of  the  head  and  that  half  scorn- 
ful look  should  cast  an  eye  down  the  long  centre 
aisle  of  the  hall  at  Mildmay  Park.  Whom  do  we 
see  coming  up  the  aisle  —  a  son  of  Anak  in  stature, 
erect,  his  features  strongly  marked,  his  venerable 
locks  and  long  white  beard  adding  majesty  to  his 
appearance  ?  On  discovering  him  the  whole  great 
audience  rise  spontaneously  to  their  feet.  A  Wes- 
leyan  brother  with  powerful  voice  is  in  the  midst  of 
an  address ;  yet  no  one  heeds  him  till  the  patriarch 
has  taken  a  seat  on  the  platform.  Who  is  the  old 
man?  Is  it  the  Earl  of  Beaconsfield ?  Is  it  Mr. 
Gladstone  ?  There  is  but  one  other  person  in  the 
realm,  I  take  it,  to  whom,  under  the  circumstances, 
such  a  united  and  enthusiastic  tribute  would  be 
paid,  and  that  because  she  is  on  the  throne.  This 
hoary-headed  man  is  the  veteran  among  South 
African  missionaries.  He  went  out  to  the  Dark 
Continent  more  than  sixty  years  before  (1816).  He 
is  now  eighty-three ;  his  name  Robert  Moffat.  .  .  . 
With  a  voice  still  strong  and  musical  he  addresses 
the  assembly  for  twenty  or  more  minutes.  The  man 
who  preaches  to  a  larger  congregation  than  any  other 
in  London  once  said  that,  when  he  saw  the  veteran 
Moffat,  he  felt  inclined  to  sink  into  his  shoes." 


MARCUS    WHITMAN,   M.  D. 

Missionary  in  Oregon. 
BORN  SEPT.  4,  1802;  DIED  Nov.  29,  1847. 


XXI. 

MARCUS  WHITMAN,  M.D. 

IF  the  magnitude  of  a  man's  work  is  to 
be  judged  by  its  far-reaching  results, 
surely  that  accomplished  by  Marcus  Whit- 
man, missionary  to  Oregon,  must  take  rank 
among  the  great  achievements  of  the 
world's  benefactors  ;  and  the  heart  of  every 
true  American  must  throb  with  gratitude 
and  pride  when  he  contemplates  the  ef- 
fects of  this  "  brave  man's  deed  and  word." 
Inspired  by  the  highest  motive,  that  of 
carrying  the  gospel  to  those  in  darkness, 
he  entered  upon  his  work  with  all  the 
enthusiasm  of  his  hardy  and  generous 
nature. 

In  the  year  1832  an  Indian  chief,  who 
had  come  to  St.  Louis  in  search  of  the 
white  man's  "  Book  of  God,"  before  re- 
turning to  his  people,  in  a  farewell  address 
129 


130  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

said  :  "I  came  to  you  over  a  trail  of  many 
moons  from  the  setting  sun.  My  people 
sent  me  to  get  the  white  man's  Book  of 
Heaven.  You  showed  me  images  of  good 
spirits,  and  pictures  of  the  good  land  be- 
yond, but  the  Book  was  not  among  them  to 
tell  me  the  way.  .  .  .  My  people  will  die 
in  darkness,  and  they  will  go  on  the  trail  to 
the  other  hunting-grounds.  No  white  man 
will  go  with  them,  and  no  white  man's  book 
to  make  the  way  plain.  I  have  no  more 
words." 

This  speech  was  delivered  to  a  few 
hearers  in  a  store-room  belonging  to  the 
American  Fur  Company,  where  they  were 
gathering  preparatory  to  starting  on  their 
annual  expedition  to  the  far  West,  with 
whom  the  lonely  Indian  was  to  make  his 
return  journey.  One  of  the  listeners  in 
this  little  audience  was  a  young  clerk  in 
the  office,  whose  heart  was  moved  by  the 
sad  refrain  ;  and,  when  writing  to  his  friend 
in  Pittsburg,  he  described  the  pathetic 
scene  and  reported  the  speech.  After  a 
time,  when  the  accuracy  of  the  incident 


MAKCUS    WHITMAN,   M.D.  131 

had  been  proven,  this  speech  was  given  to 
the  public,  with  the  hope  that  it  might 
arouse  an  interest  in  missionary  enterprise 
among  the  Indians. 

Originating  from  this  pathetic  cry,  the 
call  came  to  the  Rev.  Samuel  Parker,  a  cul- 
tivated gentleman  and  devoted  minister  in 
Ithaca,  N.Y.,  who  was  the  first  to  offer 
himself  to  the  American  Board  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  Oregon,  in  1834.  He  went  East 
to  induce  others  to  join  him,  and  there 
found  Dr.  Whitman,  to  whom  the  appeal 
came  as  a  divine  call ;  and  as  a  live  coal 
from  God's  altar  it  kindled  in  his  heart  a 
mighty  zeal,  which  carried  him  through  all 
future  hardships  and  dangers. 

He  was  born  at  Rushville,  N.Y.,  Sept. 
4,  1802,  and  was  "reared  amid  the  envi- 
ronments of  a  pioneer  home,  and  made 
familiar  with  the  privations  incident  to  such 
a  life."  He  received  the  best  possible  re- 
ligious training  from  his  parents  at  home ; 
and  after  the  death  of  his  father,  which 
occurred  when  Marcus  was  only  eight  years 
of  age,  it  was  continued  with  scrupulous 


1 3  2  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

care  by  his  grandfather,  Deacon  Samuel 
Whitman,  of  Plainville,  Mass. 

He  began  study,  having  the  ministry  in 
view,  but,  on  account  of  physical  ailments, 
turned  to  the  study  of  medicine,  and  in 
due  time  received  his  degree  of  M.D. 

Dr.  Whitman  was  past  thirty  years  of 
age  when  his  thoughts  were  turned  toward 
Oregon.  He  had  spent  four  years  in  the 
practice  of  medicine,  and  some  years  in 
business,  having  been  part  owner  with  his 
brother  of  a  sawmill,  an  experience  most 
valuable  in  later  years  in  his  missionary 
work. 

Mr.  Parker  and  Dr.  Whitman  started  for 
Oregon  in  the  summer  of  1835,  travelling 
with  the  party  sent  out  by  the  American 
Fur  Company,  as  far  as  Green  River  in 
Wyoming.  This  was  the  terminus  of  the 
Fur  Company's  route,  and  a  meeting-place 
for  traders,  trappers,  and  a  multitude  of  In- 
dians from  all  parts  of  the  great  wilderness. 
Here  they  came  annually  to  exchange  their 
year's  collection  of  furs  for  the  necessities 
and  luxuries  of  life,  brought  overland  by 


MARCUS   WHITMAN,  M.D.  133 

the  company  from  the  States.  During 
their  stay  of  several  days  here,  through 
intercourse  with  these  various  representa- 
tives of  the  wild  country  to  which  they 
were  bound,  and  with  the  knowledge  they 
had  gained  on  their  long  journey,  the  mis- 
sionaries were  able  to  more  fully  compre- 
hend the  nature  and  magnitude  of  the 
work  which  they  were  about  to  undertake. 
They  now  realized  that  a  stronger  force  and 
better  equipment  were  necessary.  It  was 
therefore  decided  that  Dr.  Whitman  should 
return  to  the  East  with  the  company's  party, 
and  secure  re-enforcements ;  while  Mr.  Par- 
ker should  proceed  to  Oregon,  and  select 
suitable  locations  for  the  three  missions 
which  they  proposed  to  establish.  Dr. 
Whitman  took  with  him  three  Nez  Perces 
boys,  and,  returning  to  central  New  York, 
made  an  earnest  effort  to  enlist  the  interest 
of  his  friends. 

He  now  saw,  as  he  was  entering  upon 
his  life-work,  that  an  important  factor  in 
this  new  mission  must  be  the  Christian 
home  ;  and  before  going  West  again  he  was 


134  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

married  to  Miss  Narcissa  Prentice,  daughter 
of  Judge  Stephen  Prentice  of  Prattsburg, 
N.Y.,  who  is  described  as  "a  handsome, 
refined,  and  accomplished  young  lady,  a 
beautiful  singer,  and  possessing  the  spirit 
of  a  true  heroine."  The  marriage  occurred 
in  March,  and  the  next  month  they  started 
on  their  long  wedding-tour. 

With  them  also  went  the  Rev.  H.  H. 
Spaulding  and  his  young  bride,  and  Mr. 
Wm.  H.  Gray,  the  latter  going  as  mechanic 
and  business  agent  for  the  mission.  These 
two  heroic  women  —  the  first  to  cross  the 
Rocky  Mountains  —  little  realized  at  that 
time  the  full  significance  of  their  journey 
to  Oregon.  To  them  it  meant  reaching 
the  heathen  with  a  message ;  to  us  it 
meant  a  vastly  enlarged  territory  and 
an  entire  change  in  the  character  of  its 
population. 

An  immense  section  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
consisting  of  about  three  hundred  thou- 
sand square  miles,  had  for  years  been  in 
possession  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company, 
who,  with  their  forts  and  trading-posts,  had 


MARCUS   WHITMAN,  M.D.  \$$ 

driven  out  eleven  fur  companies  who  had 
sought  to  establish  trade  in  that  country. 
It  was  a  powerful  monopoly,  whose  policy 
was  to  keep  the  country  in  its  present  wild 
state  for  the  sake  of  the  fur  products. 
Consequently,  all  immigration  of  families 
from  the  East  was  discouraged. 

When  these  missionary  families  crossed 
the  mountains,  and  opened  the  way  for 
others  to  follow,  it  was  the  beginning  of  a 
new  era  —  the  establishment  of  a  civiliza- 
tion which  was  entirely  to  displace  the 
unnatural  and  peculiar  social  order  then 
existing. 

Much  had  been  said  to  discourage  their 
undertaking.  It  is  said  that  advice  to  turn 
back,  warnings  as  well  as  prayers  and  bene- 
dictions, followed  them  from  place  to  place 
before  leaving  the  States. 

They  joined  a  group  of  the  American 
Fur  Company  at  Council  Bluffs,  and  con- 
tinued with  them  to  the  end  of  the  route 
at  Green  River.  These  men  at  first  were 
not  pleased  at  the  idea  of  admitting  ladies 
into  their  caravan,  They  did  not  think  it 


136  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

possible  for  them  to  endure  the  wearisome 
and  perilous  journey ;  but,  on  account  of 
the  valuable  medical  services  rendered  by 
Dr.  Whitman  on  his  previous  trip,  they 
gave  consent.  All  through  the  long  jour- 
ney, these  noble  and  high-minded  women 
were  treated  with  the  greatest  deference 
by  the  men  of  the  company,  who  tried  in 
every  possible  way  to  lessen  the  hardships 
of  the  trip.  Mrs.  Spaulding  suffered  much 
from  fatigue,  and  it  was  feared  at  one  time 
that  she  would  not  live,  as  she  was  taken 
fainting  from  her  saddle ;  but  her  courage 
was  phenomenal,  and  carried  her  through. 
One  of  the  rough  men  said,  in  speaking  of 
these  brave  women,  "There  is  something 
which  the  Honorable  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany cannot  expel  from  the  country." 

On  the  Fourth  of  July  they  reached  the 
famous  South  Pass,  Nature's  gateway 
through  the  mighty  wall,  which  she  has 
kindly  left,  that  the  country  may  not  be 
divided. 

This  is  an  interesting  spot,  where  two 
rivers,  one  flowing  toward  the  Pacific,  the 


MARCUS   WHITMAN,  M.D.  137 

other  toward  the  Atlantic,  have  their  source 
within  half  a  mile  of  each  other.  Here 
upon  a  rock  are  carved  the  names  of  noted 
travellers,  such  as  "Fremont,  1843,"  and 
"  Stanbury,  1849."  Barrows,  in  his  history 
of  Oregon,  says,  "  It  may  give  information 
and  divide  honors  with  the  '  Pathfinder '  to 
add  '  Mesdames  Whitman  and  Spaulding, 
1836.'"  Six  years  before  a  company  of 
United  States  engineers  had  seen  this  pass, 
two  women  had  gone  through. 

When  they  had  crossed  the  Continental 
Divide,  and  were  on  the  Pacific  side  of 
the  slope,  the  missionary  party  dis- 
mounted, planted  the  American  flag,  and, 
kneeling  on  their  blankets  about  the 
"  Book,"  with  prayer  and  praise  they  took 
possession  of  the  western  slope  for  Christ 
and  the  Church.  This  was,  indeed,  a  most 
significant  action  when  viewed  in  the  light 
of  subsequent  history.  The  Rev.  Jonathan 
Edwards,  in  speaking  of  this  scene,  says, 
"  How  strongly  it  evidences  their  faith  in 
their  mission,  and  the  conquering  power 
of  the  King  of  peace.  A  scene  truly  in- 


1 3  8  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

spiring  to  contemplate,  and  worthy  a  place 
on  the  canvas  among  the  masterpieces  of 
the  world's  great  artists."  It  was  an  act,  the 
far-reaching  consequences  of  which  secured 
to  the  United  States  three  hundred  thou- 
sand square  miles  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 

A  few  days  more  of  travel  brought  them 
to  Green  River  and  to  the  annual  gather- 
ing, the  fair  and  festival  of  the  mountains. 
To  the  ladies  this  was  a  novel  experience. 
The  Indian  wigwams  stretching  for  three 
miles  along  the  river,  the  encampment  of 
trappers  and  traders,  with  about  twenty 
citizens,  including  the  missionary  families, 
making  in  all  fifteen  hundred  persons.  To 
many  of  these  rough  trappers,  whose  home 
for  twenty-five  years  had  been  in  the  depths 
of  these  forests  and  in  the  canons  of  the 
mountains,  it  was  also  a  novel  experience 
to  meet  a  lady ;  and  many  of  them  were 
moved  to  tears,  being  reminded  of  loved 
ones  far  away  in  the  old  home.  One  of 
these  men,  years  after,  said,  "  From  that 
day,  when  I  took  the  hand  of  a  civilized 
woman  again,  I  was  a  better  man." 


MARCUS   WHITMAN,  M.D.  139 

Here  the  party  rested  for  ten  days. 
They  wrote  letters  home,  to  be  sent  back 
with  the  returning  company  of  traders, 
repacked  and  reduced  their  baggage,  and 
prepared  for  their  further  journey. 

Dr.  Whitman  was  warmly  welcomed  by 
the  Indians  whom  he  had  met  there  the 
year  before,  and  who  were  expecting  him 
according  to  promise.  From  this  point  the 
party  were  escorted  by  traders  from  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  on  their  way  back  to 
the  Pacific  coast  from  the  annual  meeting. 

They  next  stopped  at  Fort  Hall,  and 
again  reduced  and  repacked  baggage.  In 
a  few  days  they  reached  Fort  Boise,  where, 
by  the  advice  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany, the  doctor  left  his  wagon.  This 
wagon  was  the  first  to  be  taken  farther  than 
Fort  Laramie,  and  it  was  destined  to  play 
a  very  important  part  in  the  history  of 
Oregon  and  the  Pacific  Coast.  "Whit- 
man's wagon  had  demonstrated  that  women 
and  children  and  household  goods  — the 
family  —  could  be  carried  over  the  plains 
and  mountains  to  Oregon."  If  so,  the 
United  States  wanted  Oregon. 


140  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

The  mission  party  reached  Fort  Walla 
Walla  early  in  September ;  and  the  long 
journey  of  thirty-five  hundred  miles,  begun 
four  months  before,  was  ended.  Dr.  Whit- 
man established  a  mission  among  the  Cay- 
use  tribe  on  the  Walla  Walla  River,  six 
miles  west  of  the  present  city  of  Walla 
Walla,  giving  to  the  settlement  the  name 
of  Waiilatpu.  Mr.  Spaulding  settled  at 
Clear  Water,  and  established  another  mis- 
sion among  the  Nez  Perces  tribe,  a  few 
miles  north  of  the  Kooskooskie  River. 
These  were  two  of  the  sites  which  had 
been  chosen  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parker,  who, 
after  spending  a  year  in  Oregon,  preparing 
the  way  for  the  missionaries,  returned  to 
his  home  by  way  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 
It  had  been  the  intention  of  the  missiona- 
ries to  establish  one  of  the  missions  among 
the  Flatheads ;  but,  on  account  of  the  un- 
settled condition  of  the  tribe  at  that  time, 
it  was  not  deemed  wise  to  venture  among 
them.  The  Whitmans  were  gladly  wel- 
comed by  the  Cayuse  Indians,  and  in  a 
short  time  the  mission  was  well  established 
and  in  a  prosperous  condition. 


MARCUS  WHITMAN,  M.D,  141 

In  three  years'  time  they  had  two 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land  enclosed, 
of  which  two  hundred  acres  were  in  a 
good  state  of  cultivation.  A  grist-mill 
had  been  constructed,  an  orchard  planted, 
and  their  third  building  was  in  progress 
of  erection.  Fifty  or  more  of  the  Indian 
children  had  been  gathered  into  a  school, 
which  Mrs.  Whitman  taught.  For  six 
years  they  labored,  Mrs.  Whitman  giving 
her  attention  to  the  school  and  general 
work  of  the  mission  and  home  ;  the  doctor 
superintending  the  work  of  the  farm  and 
the  mill,  preaching  and  teaching,  in  addi- 
tion to  a  large  medical  practice  extending 
over  many  square  miles. 

Their  work  was  difficult  and  trying,  as 
these  Indians  were  wild  and  superstitious, 
and  more  averse  to  settled  life  than  were 
many  of  the  tribes  ;  yet  a  large  number  of 
them  had  been  induced  to  engage  in  agri- 
culture. 

In  the  fall  of  1842  the  two  missions, 
which  had  been  re-enforced  by  two  other 
missionaries,  held  their  annual  business 


142  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

meeting  at  this  station.  While  it  was  in 
progress  Dr.  Whitman  was  called  to  attend 
a  patient  at  Fort  Walla  Walla,  twenty-five 
miles  distant.  This  was  an  important  trad- 
ing-post, the  fort  belonging  to  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company.  Here  hospitality  was  dis- 
pensed most  generously  to  all  travellers ; 
and  it  chanced  at  this  time  that  there  was 
an  unusually  large  and  congenial  company 
present.  Twenty  or  more  of  their  men 
had  arrived  that  day  in  charge  of  boats 
laden  with  Indian  goods.  These,  with 
their  traders  and  clerks,  made  a  large  com- 
pany, in  which  Dr.  Whitman  was  the  only 
representative  of  the  United  States. 

While  they  were  seated  at  dinner  a  mes- 
senger arrived  and  announced  to  the  com- 
pany that  a  colony  of  British  settlers  from 
the  Red  River  had  crossed  the  mountains, 
and  were  then  about  three  hundred  miles 
up  the  Columbia  River.  This  announce- 
ment was  hailed  with  many  expressions  of 
delight,  and  congratulations  passed  from 
one  to  another;  when,  in  the  excitement,  a 
young  priest  arose,  and,  waving  his  cap  in 


MARCUS    WHITMAN,  M.D.  143 

the  air,  cried  "  Hurrah  for  Oregon  ;  Amer- 
ica is  too  late,  and  we  have  got  the  coun- 
try !  "  To  Dr.  Whitman  this  was  not  an 
entirely  new  revelation  of  the  state  of 
affairs.  He  had  been  impressed,  six  years 
before,  by  the  opposition  of  the  company's 
agents  to  his  taking  his  wagon  and  farm- 
ing implements  through  from  Fort  Boise ; 
and  the  same  opposition  had  been  met  by 
a  company  of  immigrants  the  year  before. 
The  president  of  the  company  had  advised 
that  the  Board  would  better  send  travelling 
missionaries  to  the  Indians  and  trappers, 
rather  than  establish  settled  missions. 

This  unguarded  statement  from  the 
young  priest  confirmed  him  in  the  belief 
that  this  company,  since  it  could  not  pre- 
vent immigration,  and  thus  preserve  the 
forests  for  hunting-grounds,  had  changed 
its  policy,  and  was  now  seeking  to  bring  in 
British  subjects  to  take  possession  of  the 
country  and  keep  Americans  out.  He  was 
now  thoroughly  aroused  to  the  situation. 
Something  must  be  done,  and  at  once. 
This  information  must  be  carried  to  Wash- 


144  GREAT  MISSIONARIES, 

ington,  and  colonies  from  the  States  must 
be  brought  in  to  occupy  the  lands,  and 
save  the  country. 

Hastening  to  his  home,  he  called  the 
missionaries  together,  and  explaining  his 
discovery  to  them,  he  announced  his  inten- 
tion of  going  at  once  to  Washington. 
They  did  not  at  first  favor  this  plan ;  but, 
as  he  was  determined,  their  confidence  in 
the  man  led  them  to  unanimous  approval. 
A  few  years  later  they  were  able  to  see 
the  emergency  as  he  saw  it  then.  Said 
Dr.  Eells,  "It  was  suggested  to  him  that 
this  was  hardly  within  the  legitimate  work 
of  the  mission;  to  which  he  replied,  that 
for  this  emergency  he  did  not  belong  so 
much  to  the  American  Board  as  to  his 
country."  Within  twenty-four  hours  from 
the  scene  at  the  dinner-table,  Dr.  Whitman 
was  in  his  saddle  headed  for  Washington, 
having  arranged  for  the  care  of  his  wife 
and  the  mission  during  his  absence. 

This  memorable  ride  must  take  rank 
with  other  pivotal  events  in  our  history; 
for,  although  it  requires  deeper  thinking 


MARCUS    WHITMAN,  M.D.  145 

to  realize  its  full  import,  it  is,  nevertheless, 
unequalled  by  any  similar  exhibition  of 
patriotism,  "  distance,  time,  heroic  daring, 
peril,  suffering,  and  magnificent  conse- 
quences." 

Mr.  Amos  Lovejoy,  who  had  recently 
arrived  with  a  band  of  immigrants  and  a 
guide,  accompanied  Whitman  with  two 
pack  mules  to  carry  supplies.  In  eleven 
days  they  reached  Fort  Hall,  having  trav- 
elled three  hundred  and  forty  miles.  They 
then  travelled  due  south  to  reach  the  old 
Santa  Fe  trail,  thinking  to  avoid  the  in- 
tense cold  by  going  that  way.  Their 
course,  in  the  main,  was  in  the  direction 
followed  by  the  present  Utah  Southern 
railroad. 

From  Mr.  Lovejoy's  journal  we  have  the 
following  items  :  — 

"  From  Fort  Hall  to  Fort  Vinta  we  had  terribly 
severe  weather.  Passing  over  the  high  mountains 
we  encountered  a  terrible  snow-storm,  compelling 
us  to  seek  refuge  for  ten  days  in  a  dark  defile. 
While  in  this  defile,  Dr.  Whitman  became  impatient 
to  move  on,  and  against  the  guide's  counsel  they 
started.  For  some  time  they  wandered  in  the  snow, 


146  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

and  the  guide  acknowledged  that  he  was  lost.  In 
the  blinding  snow-storm,  not  knowing  where  to  turn, 
Whitman  gave  up  for  the  first  and  only  time,  but 
suddenly  the  guide  noticed  a  peculiar  movement  of 
one  of  the  mule's  ears.  He  said  that  mule  knew  how 
to  find  the  way  back  to  the  defile  they  had  left.  Giv- 
ing the  reins  to  the  animal,  they  were  led  back  to  the 
refuge,  where  they  found  the  embers  of  their  fire." 

As  soon  as  possible  Whitman  went  back 
to  Fort  Taos,  where  he  procured  another 
guide ;  then  they  pushed  on  again.  At 
one  time  they  came  to  a  river  two  hun- 
dred yards  wide,  which  was  frozen  over 
about  one-third  the  distance  on  either  side. 
Without  hesitating  an  instant,  Whitman 
and  his  horse  plunged  in  and  were  soon 
on  the  other  side. 

Dr.  Whitman  reached  St.  Louis  in  due 
time,  dressed  in  his  buckskin  breeches 
and  fur  garments ;  and,  like  a  hero  fresh 
from  the  battle-field,  he  bore  many  marks 
of  the  severity  of  the  weather,  and  the 
hardships  and  perils  through  which  he  had 
passed.  From  St.  Louis  he  went  by  stage 
to  Washington,  arriving  there  March  3, 
1843. 


MARCUS   WHITMAN,  M.D.  147 

Haste  was  imperative,  and  what  urged 
him  to  press  on  through  driving  storms, 
amid  perils  and  hardships,  was  the  impend- 
ing boundary  treaty  between  Canada  and 
the  United  States.  There  was  danger  of 
Oregon  being  given  away.  Dr.  Whitman 
felt  that  he  must  show  Congress  the  value 
of  Oregon,  and  demonstrate  to  that  body 
and  to  those  in  authority  the  possibilities 
of  colonizing  the  region.  He  thought  he 
must  reach  Washington  before  this  treaty, 
which  affected  the  boundary,  was  con- 
cluded. This  he  failed  to  do  in  spite  of 
his  heroic  work  ;  yet  his  journey  was  not  in 
vain,  for  the  treaty  had  not  touched  upon 
the  Oregon  boundary. 

He  therefore  had  time  to  correct  many 
erroneous  ideas  in  regard  to  Oregon,  and 
to  expose  the  scheme  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  to  capture  the  region  by  coloni- 
zation. To  show  that  information  was 
needed  in  Washington,  we  quote  a  few 
sentences  from  the  debate  in  Congress. 
Said  one,  "  I  would  not  give  a  pinch  of 
snuff  for  the  whole  of  Oregon  for  agricul- 


148  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

tural  purposes,  and  I  thank  God  that  he 
put  the  Rocky  Mountains  between  it  and 
the  east."  Another  said,  "All  the  gold 
mines  of  Peru  would  not  pay  a  penny  on  a 
pound  of  the  cost  it  would  be  to  build  a 
railroad  across  the  mountains  to  Oregon." 

In  Washington,  Dr.  Whitman  called  on 
Daniel  Webster,  who  at  that  time  was 
Secretary  of  State,  and  told  his  thrill- 
ing story.  The  great  statesman  replied, 
"  Wagons  cannot  cross  the  mountains. 
Sir  G.  Simpson,  who  is  here,  affirms  that, 
and  so  do  all  his  correspondents  in  that 
region.  Besides,  I  am  about  trading 
that  worthless  territory  for  some  valuable 
concessions  in  relation  to  the  Newfound- 
land cod-fisheries."  Dr.  Whitman  replied, 
"  Mr.  Webster,  we  want  that  valuable  ter- 
ritory ourselves."  He  then  went  to  Presi- 
dent Tyler,  and  said  the  same  thing.  The 
President  replied,  "  Since  you  are  a  mis- 
sionary, I  will  believe  you;  and  if  you 
take  your  emigrants  over  there,  the  treaty 
will  not  be  ratified." 

A  secondary  object  of  this  journey  was 


MARCUS   WHITMAN,  M.D.  149 

to  lead  back  to  Oregon  a  colony.  By 
doing  so  he  could  settle  by  actual  proof 
the  accessibility  of  that  far  Western  dis- 
trict. On  his  way  to  Washington  he 
published  pamphlets  and  newspaper  arti- 
cles telling  of  this  proposed  party.  In 
every  town  he  passed  through  he  urged 
the  people  to  organize  and  go  West,  and 
meet  him  at  Westport,  Mo.,  when  he 
returned  in  the  spring.  Some  of  his  cir- 
culars went  as  far  south  as  Texas. 

Another  object  of  the  trip  was  to  con- 
sult with  the  American  Board  in  regard  to 
the  missions,  and  to  get  re-enforcements 
and  money.  The  Prudential  Committee 
had  voted  to  give  up  the  mission  station ; 
but,  after  hearing  Dr.  Whitman's  report, 
"  it  was  resolved  to  sustain  the  opera- 
tions of  the  mission  without  any  material 
change." 

When  he  reached  Westport,  which  was 
the  starting-point  of  Western  immigration, 
he  found  a  company  of  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-one  persons  with  a  hundred  and 
eleven  wagons  and  two  thousand  head  of 


1 50  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

cattle  and  horses,  ready  to  start  on  the 
long  journey,  in  response  to  his  appeal 
made  on  the  way  East.  "  On  that  jour- 
ney," says  Mr.  Spaulding,  "  Dr.  Whitman 
was  their  everywhere-present  angel  of 
mercy,  ministering  to  the  sick,  helping  the 
weary,  encouraging  the  wavering,  cheer- 
ing the  mothers,  mending  wagons,  setting 
broken  bones,  finding  stray  oxen ;  now  in 
the  rear,  now  in  the  centre,  now  in  front, 
looking  out  fords  ;  in  the  dark  mountains 
working  out  passages  at  noontide  or  at 
midnight,  as  though  these  were  his  own 
children  and  these  wagons  and  flocks  his 
own  property."  The  entire  company 
reached  Oregon  in  safety. 

As  is  often  the  case  with  our  greatest 
benefactors,  and  those  that  live  in  advance 
of  their  times,  it  was  not  given  Dr.  Whit- 
man to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  own  magnifi- 
cent achievements.  That  which  gave  him 
the  greatest  joy  and  satisfaction  because 
of  its  promise  of  greatest  ultimate  good  to 
the  people  for  whom  he  was  giving  his 
life  without  stint,  was  one  of  the  causes  of 


MARCUS   WHITMAN,  M.D.  151 

ms  own  destruction.  The  colony  which 
he  had  been  instrumental  in  raising  and 
.bringing  through,  that  great  advance- 
I  guard  of  civilization  which  was  to  follow, 
[  and  thus  secure  and  save  Oregon,  was  not 
pleasing  to  the  Indian.  He  saw  in  it  the 
melting  away  of  his  own  tribe.  The  In- 
dian had  always  been  averse  to  civiliza- 
tion. He  did  not  object  to  the  trappers, 
for  they  entered  into  Indian  life  and  cus- 
toms, and  troubled  them  not  by  visions  of 
a  better  life.  The  traders  were  also  wel- 
comed ;  for  they  furnished  a  little  variety 
to  their  lives,  and  brought  rude  comforts 
to  them,  and  gave  them  a  market  for  their 
own  wares.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company 
had  been  welcomed  to  their  country;  for 
its  policy  had  always  been  to  court  the 
good-will  of  the  savages,  and  they  had 
opposed  the  settlement  of  the  country, 
and,  with  the  Indians,  wished  to  preserve 
it  as  a  wilderness.  Nor  did  the  Roman 
Catholic  priest  meet  the  same  opposition 
as  did  the  Protestant  missionary  with  his 
family.  The  priest  came  without  family, 


1 5  2  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

and  therefore  did  not  seem  to  be  so  much 
in  opposition  to  the  Indian's  wild  life. 

But  Dr.  Whitman  had  brought  the  col- 
ony, and  the  colonists  had  brought  the 
measles  among  them.  This  disease  had 
spread  among  the  Indians,  very  many  of 
whom  died  from  it  because  of  their  igno- 
rance in  caring  for  the  sick.  We  are  told 
that  in  the  height  of  the  fever  the  afflicted 
ones  would  frequently  plunge  into  the 
stream  for  relief,  after  which,  of  course, 
the  doctor's  medicine  could  not  cure. 
Then  said  they,  "  The  doctor  cures  the 
white  man,  but  not  the  Indian ;  therefore 
the  doctor  gives  the  Indian  poison."  That 
seemed  to  them  good  reasoning,  and  it  was 
talked  of  and  brooded  over  until  the  dark 
plot  was  evolved  to  take  the  lives  of  the 
entire  missionary  family  (it  is  the  old 
story) ;  and  so  the  one  who  was  really 
doing  the  most  for  them,  working  day  and 
night  to  give  them  medical  aid  and  teach 
them  the  way  of  life,  was  looked  upon  by 
them  as  their  worst  enemy. 

Nov.  29,  1847,  occurred  the  massacre  of 


MARCUS   WHITMAN,  M.D.  153 

Dr.  Whitman,  his  noble  wife,  and  twelve 
others,  all  of  whom  belonged  to  the  mis- 
sion. This  was  one  of  the  saddest  events 
in  the  history  of  Oregon  or  the  Pacific 
Coast.  The  doctor  had  attended  the 
funeral  of  an  Indian  in  the  morning,  and, 
returning  to  the  mission-house,  was  caring 
for  his  three  adopted  children,  who  were 
very  ill.  Early  in  the  afternoon,  a  savage 
came  in  the  house  and  called  for  Dr. 
Whitman.  Soon  after,  the  chief,  Ti-lau- 
kait,  came  in  and  engaged  the  doctor  in 
conversation,  while  another  Indian  stole 
in,  and,  with  his  tomahawk,  struck  the 
missionary  a  blow  on  the  head.  We  shall 
not  dwell  upon  this  scene  of  blood  and 
death.  Mrs.  Whitman  was  shot  by  a 
young  Indian  who  had  received  special 
kindness  at  her  hand.  Having  tasted 
blood,  and  their  savage  natures  having 
full  play,  with  clubs,  knives,  and  toma- 
hawks, they  continued  their  work  of  death 
and  torture  eight  days,  until  fourteen  lives 
were  sacrificed. 

Thus  ends  the  life-work  of  Marcus  and 


1 54  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

Narcissa  Whitman,  two  of  the  most  conse- 
crated, successful,  and  heroic  missionaries 
ever  sent  out  by  any  missionary  society. 
Dr.  Whitman  was  only  forty-five  years  of 
age  when  he  suffered  the  death  of  a  mar- 
tyr, but  he  had  accomplished  enough  for 
the  life-work  of  one  man.  He  had  saved 
Oregon  to  the  United  States,  and  given 
the  gospel  to  the  Indians  and  the  white 
pioneers  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  As  a  fitting 
monument  to  the  memory  of  this  heroic 
missionary,  intrepid  pathfinder,  and  far- 
seeing  patriot,  a  Christian  college  has 
been  established  at  Walla  Walla,  Wash., 
which  bears  the  revered  name  of  Marcus 
Whitman. 


DAVID   LIVINGSTONE. 

Missionary  to  Africa. 
BORN  MARCH  19,  1813;  DIED  MAY  i,  1873. 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE. 

THE  visitor  in  Westminster  Abbey,  after 
looking  at  the  royal  tombs  in  the  Chapel 
of  Henry  VII.,  and  inspecting  with  nearer 
interest  the  tablets  and  monuments  of  the 
famous  Poets'  Corner,  may  come  out  into 
the  great  nave  of  the  cathedral,  and  there, 
apart  from  the  other  famous  graves,  but, 
as  it  were,  nearer  to  the  people  and  even 
amid  them,  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  he 
finds  the  large  slab  which  bears  the  name 
of  David  Livingstone.  Livingstone  was 
certainly  not  a  literary  man  in  the  common 
meaning,  though  his  works  hold  an  impor- 
tant place  in  English  literature ;  he  was 
certainly  not  a  mere  geographical  explorer, 
though  no  name  among  the  explorers 
honored  by  the  Royal  Geographical  So- 
ciety can  compare  with  his ;  and  mis- 
'57 


I  5  8  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

sionaries  and  directors  of  missionary  work 
were  not  quite  sure  whether  he  could 
stand  among  them.  In  1856  the  Lon- 
don Missionary  Society  seemed  "  desirous 
of  shelving  his  plans ;  so  he  shelved  the 
society."  Yet  Livingstone,  in  1865,  after 
he  had  been  ten  years  independent  of  the 
missionary  society,  declined  Sir  Roderick 
Murchison's  tempting  invitation  to  be  a 
mere  explorer,  and  insisted,  as  he  had 
from  the  beginning,  that  "The  end  of  the 
geographical  feat  is  but  the  beginning 
of  the  missionary  enterprise."  However 
others  might  misunderstand  him,  in  his 
own  mind  he  was  always  the  missionary 
explorer  and  pioneer ;  the  greatest  mis- 
sionary pioneer  he  really  was  since  the 
Apostle  Paul. 

He  was  born  at  Blantyre,  near  Glasgow, 
Scotland,  March  19,  1813,  the  son  of 
"  poor  and  pious  parents,"  as  he  himself 
wrote  on  their  tombstone,  giving  thanks 
for  their  poverty  as  well  as  their  piety. 
When  nine  years  old  he  took  a  prize  for 
repeating  Psalm  cxix.,  "with  only  two 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE.  159 

errors."  When  but  ten  he  went  to  work 
in  a  cotton  factory,  and  laid  his  first  half- 
crown  of  wages  in  his  mother's  lap,  and 
with  part  of  that  week's  pay  bought  a  Latin 
grammar.  For  ten  years  he  studied  late 
at  night,  and  at  odd  minutes  in  the  mill, 
and  read  many  of  the  classics.  Till  about 
1833  he  was  waiting  for  some  gracious, 
conscious  change  to  come  in  his  charac- 
ter, but,  reading  Dick's  "  Philosophy  of  a 
Future  State,"  he  was  led  to  accept  Christ 
at  once  with  great  joy ;  and  GutzlafTs 
"  Appeal "  led  him  to  give  himself  to 
missionary  work. 

He  spent  two  winters  (1836-38)  in 
Glasgow,  studying  Greek  in  the  Univer- 
sity, theology  with  Rev.  Dr.  Wardlaw,  and 
medicine  in  Anderson's  College ;  and  was 
accepted  by  the  London  Missionary  So- 
ciety to  go  to  China,  and  at  their  instance 
studied  theology  for  a  time  with  the  Rev. 
Richard  Cecil,  though  poor  reports  of  his 
preaching  capacity  nearly  caused  his  re- 
jection by  the  society. 

His  going  to  China  was  delayed  by  the 


l6o  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

opium  war ;  and  meeting  Moffat,  he  con- 
cluded to  go  to  Africa.  He  received  a 
medical  diploma,  and  was  ordained  in  No- 
vember, 1840,  and  in  December  sailed  for 
the  Cape;  and  in  July,  1841,  went  to 
Kuruman,  Moffat's  station,  seven  hundred 
miles  north  of  Cape  Town.  He  spent  two 
years  at  Kuruman,  learning  the  language 
and  practical  missionary  methods ;  and  in 
1843  established  his  own  first  station  at 
Mabotsa,  two  hundred  miles  north-east  of 
Kuruman,  where  he  built  a  house,  and  took 
home  Mary  Moffat  as  his  wife. 

His  plan  was  to  open  up  new  centres 
of  light  among  tribes  hitherto  unevan- 
gelizedj  and  raise  up  native  pastors.  He 
had  no  patience  with  lingering  near  the 
centres  of  missionary  or  civilized  life. 
"  If  you  meet  me  down  in  the  Colony 
before  eight  years  are  expired,"  he  wrote 
to  a  friend,  "you  may  shoot  me."  Near 
Mabotsa,  before  his  marriage,  he  had  the 
famous  encounter  with  a  lion,  which  bit 
through  his  arm  bone.  Some  one  in 
London  asked  him  what  his  thoughts  were 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE.  l6l 

as  the  lion  stood  over  him ;  and  he  an- 
swered with  grim  humor,  "  I  was  thinking 
what  part  of  me  he  would  eat  first." 

He  had  built  his  house  to  stay  at  Ma- 
botsa ;  but  a  foolish  jealousy  on  the  part 
of  a  fellow  missionary  made  him  give 
up  his  home,  and  found  a  second  station 
forty  miles  north,  at  Chonuane,  the  capital 
of  the  Bakwains.  Here  he  labored  three 
years,  and  the  chief,  Sechele,  was  baptized ; 
but  the  people  suffered  from  drought,  and 
their  "rain-makers"  charged  it  to  the 
missionary.  Livingstone  thereupon  per- 
suaded the  tribe  to  move  westward  forty 
miles  to  the  river  Kolobeng,  where  canals 
could  furnish  irrigation.  This  "  beat  the 
rain-makers "  for  the  first  year ;  but  later 
droughts  showed  the  river  insufficient,  and 
in  1849,  leaving  his  wife  and  three  chil- 
dren at  Kolobeng,  he  set  out  in  company 
with  two  English  sportsmen,  to  find  the 
tribe  a  healthier  home  to  the  north.  He 
discovered  Lake  'Ngami,  Aug.  i ;  then  re- 
turned, and  the  next  April  set  out  to 
occupy  it  with  his  wife  and  children  and 


1 62  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

the  converted  chief  Sechele.  The  chil- 
dren and  servants,  however,  fell  ill,  and  he 
had  to  return.  A  fourth  child  was  born 
and  died  ere  long;  and  after  fuller  prepa- 
ration he  again  set  out  with  his  family,  in 
April,  1851,  for  the  country  of  the  Mako- 
lolo,  whose  king,  Sebituane,  had  been  in 
former  years  a  good  friend  of  Sechele. 
This  time  the  journey  was  successfully  ac- 
complished, and  Sebituane  welcomed  them 
heartily.  He  soon  died;  but  his  daughter, 
who  succeeded  him,  was  equally  friendly, 
and  Livingstone  continued  his  explora- 
tions, and  in  June  discovered  the  upper 
Zambesi. 

The  Makololo  country,  however,  was  not 
healthful,  and  the  political  disorders  and 
strife  with  the  Boers  made  Kolobeng  un- 
safe ;  and  in  1852  Livingstone  took  his 
family  to  the  Cape,  and  sent  them  to  Eng- 
land, himself  returning  to  the  Makololo. 

In  November,  1853,  he  set  out  with  a 
company  of  natives  upon  that  great  ex- 
ploring tour  which  led  him  north-westerly 
across  the  watershed  of  Central  Africa,  and 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE.  163 

brought  him,  in  May,  1854,  to  the  Portu- 
guese town  of  Loanda  on  the  west  coast. 
Here  he  rested  through  the  summ^^  and 
in  September  following  marched  east^trd, 
and  explored  across  the  continentxjfr63&i 
ocean  to  ocean,  reaching  the  mouth  of'th^ 
Zambesi  in  May,  1856. 

He  had  sent  home  from  Loanda  his 
astronomical  observations  and  his  journals 
to  that  point ;  and  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society  honored  him  in  May,  1855,  with 
its  gold  medal.  His  careful  studies  of  the 
watershed  on  his  eastward  journey  were  of 
equal  value.  He  discovered  the  great  falls 
of  the  Zambesi,  and  the  blank,  "  unexplored 
region  "  from  Kuruman  to  Timbuctoo  was 
covered  with  his  accurate  and  scientific 
descriptions  and  maps ;  and  when  from 
Kilimane  he  sailed  to  Mauritius,  and  thence 
to  England,  where  he  arrived  in  Decem- 
ber, 1856,  he  was  the  hero  of  the  hour. 
His  journey  of  eleven  thousand  miles 
through  unexplored  Africa  had  brought 
him  into  national  and  world-wide  distinc- 
tion. His  meeting  with  his  family  was  a 


1 64  GREAT  MISSIONARIES, 

greater  joy  than  all  his  fame,  though  he 
found  his  father's  chair  empty,  Neil  Living- 
stone having  died  while  his  son  was  on  his 
homeward  journey. 

The  London  Missionary  Society  gave 
him  distinguished  honor,  but  doubted  the 
entire  wisdom  of  his  plans;  and  he  re- 
signed his  connection  with  them.  He 
prepared  and  published  his  first  volume, 
"  Missionary  Travels  and  Researches  in 
South  Africa,"  which  had  an  immediate 
popular  success,  and  made  him  pecu- 
niarily independent.  Eminent  scientists 
pronounced  it  a  most  valuable  contribution 
to  knowledge.  It  gave  a  most  interesting 
proof  of  his  personal  traits.  For  exam- 
ple, in  describing  in  the  simplest  manner 
an  adventure  with  a  buffalo,  he  says :  — 

"  I  glanced  around,  but  the  only  tree  on  the  plain 
was  a  hundred  yards  off,  and  there  was  no  escape 
elsewhere.  I  therefore  cocked  my  rifle  with  the 
intention  of  giving  him  a  steady  shot  in  the  fore- 
head when  he  should  come  within  three  or  four 
yards  of  me.  The  thought  flashed  across  my  mind, 
'  What  if  the  gun  misses  fire  ? '  I  placed  it  at  my 
shoulder  as  he  came  on  at  full  speed,  and  that  is 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE.  165 

tremendous.  A  small  bush  fifteen  yards  off  made 
him  swerve  a  little,  and  exposed  his  shoulder.  I 
heard  the  ball  crack  there  as  I  fell  flat  on  my  face. 
The  pain  must  have  made  him  renounce  his  pur- 
pose, for  he  bounded  close  past  me  to  the  water, 
where  he  was  found  dead.  In  expressing  my  thank- 
fulness to  God  among  my  men,  they  were  much 
offended  with  themselves  for  not  being  present  to 
shield  me  from  this  danger.  The  tree  near  me  was 
a  camel-thorn,  and  reminded  me  that  we  had  come 
back  to  the  land  of  thorns  again,  for  the  country  we 
had  left  is  one  of  evergreens." 

The  passage,  besides  its  graphic  interest, 
shows  Livingstone's  coolness  in  the  mo- 
ment of  danger,  his  devout  thankfulness 
and  habit  of  speaking  of  God's  kind  provi- 
dences to  his  men,  whom  he  held  in 
friendly  regard,  and  the  keen  eye  of  the 
naturalist  noting  even  the  thorns  on  the 
bush  in  the  moment  of  deadly  danger. 

But,  above  all,  his  book  reveals  his  con- 
trolling and  devoted  purpose  of  missionary 
exploration  ;  and  more  and  more  the  Chris- 
tian church  grows  to  see  the  justice  of  its 
ideas  of  missionary  work.  Especially  was 
it  wise  in  declaring  the  slave-trade  the 


1 66  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

great  "  open  sore  of  the  world,"  which,  un- 
healed,  must  make  the  Christianization  or 
civilizing  of  Africa  an  impossibility. 

In  February,  1858,  he  was  appointed 
British  consul  for  Eastern  Africa  and  the 
interior,  and  in  March  sailed  in  the  Zam- 
besi expedition.  He  explored  the  Zam- 
besi from  its  mouth  that  season,  entered 
its  branch,  the  Shire,  in  January,  1859,  anc^ 
discovered  Lake  Nyassa  Sept.  16,  1859. 
He  was  joined  by  the  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge missionaries  early  in  1861  ;  explored 
with  them  the  Rovuma,  and  later  again  ex- 
plored the  Shire.  Jan.  30,  1862,  Mrs. 
Livingstone  came  to  join  him,  arriving  in 
the  naval  ship  Gorgon,  which  also  brought 
a  small  steamer,  the  Lady  Nyassa,  which, 
at  the  cost  of  six  thousand  pounds,  profits 
of  his  book,  he  had  had  built  for  lake 
use. 

Mrs.  Livingstone  died  April  27,  and  at 
first  he  was  quite  prostrated.  Later  he 
again  explored  the  Rovuma  and  Shire  Riv- 
ers, and  had  begun  to  build  a  road  around 
the  cataracts  of  the  latter  river,  when  letters 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE.  l6? 

were  received  from  England,  recalling  the 
expedition  as  too  costly.  The  recall  was  in 
part  due  to  the  hostility  of  the  Portuguese 
authorities,  because  of  his  practical  inter- 
ference with  the  slave-trade. 

In  need  now  of  money,  he  sailed  his 
little  steamer,  the  Lady  Nyassa,  to  Bombay, 
to  sell  her,  making  a  stormy  journey  of 
forty- five  days  ;  and  from  Bombay  sailed  to 
England.  There  he  wrote,  "  The  Zambesi 
and  its  Tributaries." 

In  1865  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  pro- 
posed to  him  to  accept  a  purely  geographi- 
cal appointment,  to  explore  the  watersheds 
of  Africa  ;  but  Livingstone  declined,  being 
unwilling  to  put  the  missionary  work  any- 
where but  first.  This  refusal  did  not  pre- 
vent his  appointment  as  British  consul  in 
Africa,  without  salary ;  and  he  accepted  this 
office,  and  also  a  commission  from  the  Geo- 
grapical  Society,  under  which  he  went  to 
Bombay  and  sold  the  Lady  Nyassa  for  less 
than  half  her  cost  to  him,  thence  sailing 
to  Zanzibar,  whence  he  went  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Rovuma.  He  had  already  ascer- 


1 68  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

tained  that  this  river  had  no  connection 
with  Lake  Nyassa,  but  he  ascended  it  as 
far  as  practicable,  and  reached  Lake  Nyassa 
Aug.  8,  spending  some  weeks  in  explor- 
ing the  lake ;  and  then,  to  settle  the  ques- 
tion of  the  watershed,  he  pressed  on 
northward,  and  reached  Lake  Tanganyika 
April  i,  1867,  and  demonstrated  that  it  be- 
longed to  a  system  of  waters  flowing  away 
from  the  Indian  Ocean.  Then,  pushing 
west,  he  came  to  Casembe  in  November, 
discovering  Lake  Moero,  Nov.  8,  1867. 

These  laborious  journeys  were  most 
wearing  to  his  health,  and  he  was  prostrated 
by  a  severe  fever  in  December,  and  Jan.  i , 
1868,  wrote  in  his  journal :  "  Almighty 
Father,  forgive  the  sins  of  the  past  year 
for  thy  Son's  sake.  Help  me  to  be  more 
profitable  during  this  year.  If  I  am  to  die 
this  year,  prepare  me  for  it."  This  danger 
of  death  and  these  laborious  journeys  were 
for  no  mere  explorer's  fame.  They  were 
the  steadfast  persistence  of  his  great  pur- 
pose to  accomplish  the  "  geographical  feat," 
which  was  "  but  the  beginning  of  the  mis- 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE.  169 

sionary  enterprise  ;  "  along  with  which  was 
now  his  purpose  to  find  and  show,  north  of 
the  Portuguese  possessions,  and  Portu- 
guese official  complicity  with  the  slave- 
trade,  an  open  highway  of  legitimate 
commerce,  the  success  of  which  he  was 
convinced  would  ever  heal  "  the  open  sore 
of  the  world." 

Yet  he  ever  bore  with  him  the  fitting  in- 
fluence of  a  devoted  missionary  of  the 
.cross.  In  the  midst  of  these  geographical 
explorations,  while  reaching  the  conclusion 
that  Lake  Bangweolo,  discovered  July  28, 
1868,  was  one  of  a  chain  of  lakes  extend- 
ing northward  and  traversed  by  the  Lua- 
laba,  and  wondering  if  that  mighty  interior 
river  was  not  the  long-sought  upper  Nile, 
he  makes  this  note  :  "  As  for  our  general 
discourse,  we  mention  our  relationship  to 
our  Father ;  his  love  to  all  his  children  — 
the  guilt  of  selling  any  of  his  children, 
the  consequence.  We  mention  the  Bible, 
future  state,  prayers ;  advise  union,  that  they 
should  unite  as  one  family  to  expel  ene- 
mies, who  came  first  as  slave-traders,  and 


I  70  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

ended  by  leaving  the  country  a  wilder- 
ness." 

Toward  the  end  of  1868  he  was  again 
very  ill ;  and  at  length  resolved  to  go  to 
Ujiji,  on  the  east  shore  of  Lake  Tangan- 
yika. The  journey  was  most  exhausting. 
Half-way  to  Tanganyika  he  became  so  ill 
that  he  had  to  be  carried  on  the  march  — 
the  first  time  in  thirty  years.  His,  men,  too 
were  about  worn  out.  Canoeing  on  the 
lake  was  easier  than  marching,  but  taxed 
them  to  the  utmost.  "  Patience,"  he  says, 
"  was  never  more  needed  than  now.  I  am 
near  Ujiji ;  but  the  slaves  who  paddle  are 
tired,  and  no  wonder  ;  they  keep  up  a  roar- 
ing song  all  through  their  work,  night  and 
day.  .  .  .  Hope  to  hold  out  to  Ujiji." 
They  arrived  there  March  14,  1869. 

It  was  July  before  Livingstone  was  suf- 
ficiently rested  and  strengthened  to  set  out 
on  what  proved  his  last  journey.  His  im- 
mediate object  was  the  exploration  of  that 
country  west  from  the  northern  land  of 
Lake  Tanganyika.  The  country  was  said 
to  be  occupied  by  cannibals ;  but  beyond 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE,  I /I 

them  was  the  Lualaba,  and  the  question 
whether  it  flowed  northward  to  the  Nile 
was  of  intense  interest.  He  found  the  peo- 
ple drunken  with  palm-toddy,  and  obsti- 
nately obstructive  to  him.  After  a  short 
attempt  at  canoeing  on  the  Lualaba,  his  ill- 
health  compelled  falling  back  to  Bambarre 
by  the  lake.  In  June,  1870,  he  made  an- 
other start,  but  again  had  to  fall  back,  and 
was  laid  up  nearly  three  months  with  ulcers 
on  his  feet.  He  says  that  while  in  this 
country  he  "  read  the  whole  Bible  through 
four  times."  He  confessed  in  his  journal : 
"  I  have  an  intense  and  sore  longing  to 
finish  and  retire,  and  trust  the  Almighty 
may  permit  me  to  go  home." 

Jan.  i,  1871,  he  was  still  waiting  at 
Bambarre.  There  ten  men  came  of  a 
larger  number  sent  from  Zanzibar  by  Dr. 
Kirk,  but  bringing  only  one  of  the  forty 
letters  with  which  they  had  been  sent,  and 
proving  most  mutinous,  worthless  scoun- 
drels when  he  tried  to  go  westward  with 
them.  Nevertheless,  he  pushed  on  to  the 
Lualaba,  but  found  it  wandering  off  still 


1 72  GKEA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

westward,  apparently  with  no  connection 
with  the  Nile.  Here,  too,  he  had  to  wit- 
ness, with  no  power  to  help,  the  horror  and 
desolation  of  a  slavers'  raid,  with  all  its 
robbery,  massacre,  and  utter  desolation. 
Obliged  to  return,  he  came  east  six  hun- 
dred miles  to  Ujiji,  to  find  that  there  his 
stores  had  been  stolen,  and  he  was  threat- 
ened with  utter  destitution.  This  was  Oct. 
23,  1871  ;  and  it  was  in  this  extremity  that 
he  was  relieved  by  the  arrival  of  Henry  M. 
Stanley,  of  the  New  York  Herald  relief 
expedition,  Nov.  10. 

In  September,  1866,  men  whom  Living- 
stone had  brought  from  Zanzibar  deserted 
him,  and  in  order  to  get  pay  on  the  arrival 
there,  represented  that  he  had  been  killed 
by  the  natives.  The  report  was  discred- 
ited, but  years  without  messages  made  it 
seem  not  improbable.  The  Geographical 
Society  commissioned  Mr.  Edward  D. 
Young  to  search  for  Livingstone,  and  he 
proved  the  utter  untrustworthiness  of  the 
report.  But  what  truth  was  hidden  in 
these  dark  and  trackless  forests  it  was  left 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE.  173 

to  Stanley  to  show,  after  an  anxious  uncer- 
tainty of  years.  Stanley  brought  with  him 
abundant  equipment ;  and  he  and  Living- 
stone together  explored  the  north  end  of 
Lake  Tanganyika,  and  found  that  it  had 
no  northern  outlet,  and  so  could  not  be  a 
source  of  the  Nile.  Subsequently  Stanley 
was  prostrated  with  fever ;  and  for  this  and 
other  causes  he  was  with  Livingstone  till  the 
middle  of  February,  1872.  It  belongs  to 
Henry  M.  Stanley  to  tell  how  much  of  all 
that  is  noblest  in  him  has  its  connection 
with  that  heroic  missionary  whom  the  New 
York  Herald's  enterprise  sent  him  out  to 
rescue. 

They  went  together  to  Unyanyembe,  a 
great  Arab  settlement  between  Ujiji  and 
the  east  coast.  There  Stanley  handed 
over  the  stores  he  had  brought  for  Living- 
stone, public  gifts,  and  clothing  sent  by 
his  daughter ;  and  after  they  had  shaken 
hands  and  parted,  sent  up  from  the  coast 
a  company  of  trusty  natives. 

Aug.  25  Livingstone  left  Unyanyembe, 
and  in  six  weeks  was  back  at  Lake  Tan- 


174  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

ganyika.  He  rounded  the  southern  point, 
and  pushed  south  and  west  for  Lake 
Bangweolo.  The  rainy  season  had  come  ; 
and  they  were  much  hindered  by  the 
"  sponge,"  and  were  often  knee-deep  in 
water.  Fever  and  dysentery  reduced  Liv- 
ingstone, till  again  he  had  to  be  carried  on 
a  sort  of  palanquin.  Sometimes  he  was 
in  great  pain,  and  sometimes  faint  and 
drowsy.  He  kept  up  his  journal ;  but  the 
entries  were  shorter  and  shorter,  at  last 
little  but  the  dates.  He  still  questioned 
the  men,  where  he  could  not  observe  for 
himself,  about  distant  hills  and  the  rivers 
they  crossed.  April  27,  1873,  he  wrote, 
"  Knocked  up  quite,  and  remain  —  recover 
—  sent  to  buy  milch  goats.  We  are  on 
the  banks  of  Molilamo."  This  was  the 
last  entry. 

Next  day  his  men  lifted  him  from  his 
bed  to  a  canoe,  and  crossed  the  river. 
They  then  bore  him  to  the  site  of  the 
present  village  of  Chitambo,  at  the  south- 
ern end  of  Lake  Bangweolo,  reaching  there 
with  great  difficulty,  splashing  through 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE.  1/5 

dreary  stretches  of  water  and  sponge  till 
the  evening  of  April  29.  He  was  at  times 
utterly  faint.  Some  of  them  went  ahead, 
and  built  him  a  hut,  and  there  they  laid 
him  in  bed.  Next  day  he  was  too  ill  to 
talk.  At  night  they  helped  him  select 
some  medicine  from  the  chest.  Then  he 
said,  "  All  right ;  you  can  go."  A  lad 
slept  in  the  hut  with  him,  and  towards 
morning  called  some  of  the  men.  They 
found  his  candle  burning  at  his  bedside, 
and  Livingstone  kneeling  there  as  if  in 
prayer,  his  face  in  his  hands,  but  he  was 
dead. 

When  these  poor  natives  found  that 
"  the  great  master,"  as  they  called  him, 
was  dead,  "  with  a  fidelity  which  is  rare  in 
story,  and  a  sense  of  responsibility  almost 
unknown  in  benighted  Africa,"  they  buried 
his  heart  and  internal  organs  under  a  tree 
—  Livingstone  wrote  after  his  wife's  death, 
"  I  have  often  wished  that  [my  resting- 
place]  might  be  in  some  far-off,  still,  deep 
forest,  where  I  may  sleep  sweetly  till  the 
resurrection  morn."  His  body  they  em- 


1/6  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

balmed,  as  best  they  could,  by  drying; 
and  wrapping  it  in  calico,  bark,  and  canvas, 
carried  it,  with  all  his  personal  effects, 
through  a  hostile  country,  all  the  weary 
way  to  the  coast.  It  was  thence  taken  to 
England,  and  there  identified,  partly  by 
the  arm  crushed  by  the  lion's  jaw ;  and 
was  laid  to  rest  in  Westminster  Abbey. 


XXIY. 

JAMES   WILLIAM  LAMBUTH 

1829-1892. 

Thirty-eight  years  an  active  missionary. 
BY    WALTER    R.   LAMBUTH. 

12 


xxiy. 

JAMES  WILLIAM  LAMBUTH. 

ANCESTRY. 

THE  ancestry  of  James  William  Lambuth 
was  missionary.  His  grandfather,  William 
Lambuth,  was  a  member  of  the  Baltimore 
Conference,  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Coke 
and  elder  by  Bishop  Asbury.  He  was  sent  as 
a  missionary  to  the  wilds  of  Tennessee  in 
1800,  and  appointed  to  Cumberland  Circuit, 
which  embraced  portions  of  the  States  of 
Tennessee  and  Virginia.  In  those  early  days 
Indians  and  outlaws  were  about  the  only  in- 
habitants of  the  primeval  forests,  which 
stretched  for  hundreds  of  miles  between  the 
settlements  of  the  hardy  pioneers.  It  was  a 
plunge  into  an  unexplored  and  trackless  wil- 
derness; but  with  a  courage  born  of  invincible 
faith  he  began  traveling  his  new  circuit,  and 
toiled  on,  enduring  many  hardships,  until  he 
rested  from  his  labors  in  1837,  leaving  behind 
him  a  good  name  and  a  spotless  record. 


iSo  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

John  Russell,  son  of  William  Lambuth,  was 
born  in  1801.  Converted  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen, he  immediately  set  about  his  life  work  as 
a  soul-winner.  Taking  his  young  companions 
aside  into  a  grove  near  the  camp  ground 
(where  he  had  just  been  converted),  he  poured 
forth  his  soul  in  their  behalf,  and  was  instru- 
mental in  leading  a  number  of  them  to  Christ. 

He  was  licensed  to  preach  at  sixteen,  and  in 
1821  joined  the  Kentucky  Conference.  Vol- 
unteering for  missionary  work  among  the 
Creoles  and  Indians  of  Louisiana,  he  immedi- 
ately started  south  in  company  with  Benja- 
min Drake,  who  also  had  been  transferred  to 
the  Mississippi  Conference. 

Provided  with  a  Methodist  preacher's  out- 
fit— horse,  saddlebags,  pocket  Bible,  hymn 
book,  and  Discipline — and  fired  with  holy  zeal, 
the  hearts  of  the  young  preachers  beat  high 
with  hope  as  they  turned  their  faces  toward 
the  Sunny  South.  On  their  way  through 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  they  were  joined  by  Bishop 
George.  The  three  pushed  on  day  after  day, 
following  the  pioneer's  trail  under  arching 
pines,  through  bogs  and  swamps  and  turbid 
streams. 


JAMES  WILLIAM  LAMBUTH.  l8l 

A  TRAVELING  THEOLOGICAL  CLASS. 

The  good  Bishop  expounded  the  Scriptures 
as  they  rode  along,  outlined  the  doctrines  of 
the  Church,  put  and  answered  questions,  and 
gave  out  texts  from  which  they  preached 
at  noon  while  they  rested  on  the  roadside. 
Little  did  the  traveling  theological  class 
dream  how  in  after  years  this  method  of  way- 
side instruction  would  be  reproduced  in  a 
distant  land.  Often  in  the  life  of  James  Wil- 
liam Lambuth  did  he  gather  his  Chinese  help- 
ers about  him  in  the  shade  of  some  bamboo 
grove  or  on  the  grassy  bank  of  a  canal,  and 
teach  them  the  deep  things  of  God. 

Young  Lambuth  served  circuits  in  Ala- 
bama, Louisiana,  Mississippi,  and,  acquiring 
both  the  French  and  Indian  languages, 
preached  in  them  with  considerable  fluency. 
While  laboring  in  Louisiana  the  conversion 
of  a  young  Indian  made  a  deep  impression 
upon  him.  The  Indian  was  convicted  of  sin 
under  his  sermon,  and  came  asking  what  he 
must  do  to  obtain  peace.  He  was  told  to  go 
to  the  grove,  pray,  and  give  his  whole  heart  to 
God.  The  following  morning  he  returned  in 
great  distress,  and  said:  "Me  give  dog,  me 
give  blanket,  me  give  gun;  but  me  get  no 


1 8  2  GREA  T  MISSIONAhlES. 

peace.  What  shall  Indian  do?"  The  preach- 
er replied:  "Go  back,  give  all  these  to  God, 
and  then  give  him  yourself."  He  went  to  the 
grove  at  once  to  pray,  and  in  a  short  time  re- 
turned with  a  beaming  face,  exclaiming:  "Me 
so  happy!  Great  Spirit  bless  me!  Me  happy, 
so  happy!"  The  young  missionary  rejoiced 
with  him,  and  thanked  God  for  the  opportu- 
nity of  pointing  a  child  of  the  forest  to  Christ. 

METHODISM  IN  MOBILE. 

While  John  R.  Lambuth  did  valuable 
work  in  other  portions  of  the  Mississippi 
Conference,  it  was  with  the  city  of  Mobile, 
Ala.,  that  his  life  and  labors  were  most  closely 
identified.  In  1826-27  he  was  appointed  to 
the  Mobile  Mission,  where  he  organized  and 
built  the  first  Methodist  Church  in  that  city. 
Beginning  without  a  member,  after  two  years 
of  faithful  effort  a  commodious  church  had 
been  built,  and  that  without  the  burden  of  a 
debt,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  persons  re- 
ceived into  membership.  Bishop  Soule  wrote 
of  him:  "The  prudence,  perseverance,  and  zeal 
of  the  missionary  on  this  station  are  worthy 
of  imitation  and  praise." 


JAMES  WILLIAM  LAMBUTH.         183 

DEDICATED  AT  BIRTH. 

At  the  close  of  his  pastorate  in  Mobile, 
John  R.  Lambuth  was  married  to  Miss  Nancy 
Kirkpatrick,  and,  locating,  moved  to  Green 
County,  Ala.,  where  on  March  2,  1830,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  James  .William  Lam- 
buth, was  born.  His  father  was  called  home 
from  a  protracted  meeting  in  which  he  was 
assisting,  and,  returning  to  attend  a  mission- 
ary service,  he  made  the  following  statement 
to  the  congregation:  "I  was  called  home  yes- 
terday to  the  birth  of  a  baby  boy.  In  heart- 
felt gratitude  to  God,  I  dedicate  the  child  to 
the  Lord  for  a  foreign  missionary,  and  add  a 
bale  of  cotton  to  send  him  with." 

With  such  a  dedication,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  he  dates  his  religious  experience  almost 
from  infancy.  Writing  in  his  journal  in  later 
life:  "My  own  dear  father  and  mother  taught 
me  to  lift  my  heart  to  God  in  prayer,  and 
when  five  years  of  age  I  felt  the  blessed  influ- 
ences of  God's  Holy  Spirit." 

Sometimes  there  was  an  air  of  seriousness 
beyond  his  years  about  this  blue-eyed  boy; 
but  his  life  was  a  natural  one  for  all  that,  and 
had  its  alternations  of  light  and  shadow. 
With  a  body  as  lithe  as  a  cat,  and  endowed 


184  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

with  the  clear  eye  of  a  huntsman,  walking  or 
riding,  fishing  or  hunting  were  equally  at- 
tractive to  him.  In  boyhood  the  stick  and 
the  sling  were  weapons  offensive  and  defen- 
sive, but  were  succeeded  in  young  manhood 
by  the  shotgun  and  rifle,  which  were  unerr- 
ing in  his  hands.  The  young  hunter  scorned 
to  shoot  a  squirrel  save  through  the  eye,  and 
many  a  buck  and  wild  turkey  were  brought 
down  with  his  trusty  rifle. 

CONVERSION. 

At  eight  years  of  age  he  was  brought  under 
profound  conviction,  and  united  with  the 
Church,  but  did  not  experience  regeneration. 
His  membership  was  an  outward  help,  but  we 
find  him  constantly  yearning  for  a  deeper 
work  of  grace.  In  1848  he  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  Mississippi  at  Oxford,  and  during 
his  third  year  at  the  university  he  was  happily 
converted  after  twelve  days  and  nights  of  deep 
conviction  and  distress  of  mind.  From  that 
hour  he  determined  to  do  what  he  could  to 
bring  others  to  Christ.  How  faithfully  he  ad- 
hered to  this  determination  is  evidenced  by 
his  lifelong  devotion  to  soul-saving,  but  noth- 


JAMBS  WILLIAM  LAMB  UTH.  1 85 

ing  short  of  eternity  will  reveal  the  full  re- 
sults of  his  service. 

Graduating  in  1852,  he  returned  home  and 
began  first  the  study  of  medicine,  and  then 
that  of  law,  but  was  soon  convinced  that  there 
was  other  work  for  him  to  do.  He  prayed 
earnestly  for  direction,  while  his  friends  urged 
him  to  preach  the  gospel;  but  he  felt  unwor- 
thy to  enter  upon  such  a  holy  calling.  How- 
ever, after  assisting  in  many  religious  meet- 
ings and  being  greatly  blessed,  he  was  in  1853 
given  an  exhorter's  license,  and  a  few  months 
later  license  to  preach.  His  first  work  was 
among  the  negroes  on  his  father's  farm,  and 
while  so  engaged  he  heard  and  responded  to 
the  call  made  by  Bishop  Andrew  for  young 
men  for  China. 

ANSWERING  THE  CALL. 

Concerning  this  important  step,  William 
Lambuth  writes:  "The  appeal  fired  my  heart 
with  holy  zeal,  and  the  blessed  Spirit  of  God 
stirred  my  soul  within;  and  I  said,  'I  will  go 
even  to  China  to  preach  the  gospel.'  The 
missionary  hymn  had  often  inspired  me  with 
an  earnest  desire  to  carry  the  blessed  gospel 
o^  Christ  to  the  regions  beyond,  and  it  seemed 


1 86  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

in  the  providence  of  God  that  the  time  had 
come.  I  talked  with  my  father  about  it,  and 
his  answer  was,  'My  son,  you  could  have  no 
greater  field  in  which  to  glorify  God  and  to  do 
good  to  men  than  in  the  preaching  of  the  gos- 
pel, and  I  freely  give  my  consent  for  you  to  go 
to  China.' '  After  making  it  a  subject  of 
prayer,  he  wrote  Bishop  Andrew,  volunteer- 
ing for  service  abroad,  and  was  accepted.  In 
the  fall  of  1853  the  Mississippi  Conference 
met  at  Canton.  He  was  received  into  the 
Conference  on  trial,  and  appointed  mission- 
ary to  China  by  Bishop  Capers,  who  presided. 
On  October  20,  1853,  J.  W.  Lambuth  was 
married  to  Miss  M.  I.  McClellan,  of  Cam- 
bridge, N.  Y.,  and  they,  in  company  with  three 
other  missionary  couples,  after  a  farewell  mis- 
sionary meeting  at  Richmond,  Va.,  repaired 
to  New  York,  whence  they  were  to  take  pas- 
sage. The  ship  Ariel,  a  small  sailing  vessel, 
was  to  take  the  missionaries  to  China.  There 
were  no  magnificent  steamships  for  such  dis- 
tant seaports  in  those  days.  They  were  to 
sail  and  drift  sixteen  thousand  miles  down  the 
Atlantic,  across  the  equator,  around  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  around  the  continent  of 
Africa,  up  through  the  Indian  Ocean,  across 


JAMES  WILLIAM  LAMBUTH.  187 

the  equator  again,  among  the  islands  of  Ma- 
laysia, out  by  the  Philippines,  and  up  through 
the  China  Sea. 

What  sublime  patience  these  early  mission- 
aries had!  Four  months  and  a  half  at  sea, 
amid  calm  and  storm,  with  bad  water,  moldy 
bread,  and  much  of  the  time  spent  in  a  room 
hardly  larger  than  a  piano  box.  No  com- 
plaint, however,  but  rejoicing  rather  that  they, 
with  the  great  apostle,  were  worthy  "to  go 
far  hence  unto  the  Gentiles." 

BEGINNING  THE  WORK. 

It  was  in  harmony  with  William  Lambuth's 
life  that  he  should  begin  his  missionary  work 
with  a  severe  scrutiny  of  motive  and  method. 
Heathenism  massed  by  the  archenemy  con- 
fronted him.  He  was  about  to  enter  the 
arena  of  his  life  work.  Like  a  true  soldier,  he 
must  test  his  armor  and  gird  himself  for  the 
battle.  A  few  sentences  from  his  journal  give 
the  trend  of  his  thought:  "Am  I  living  as  a 
child  of  God?  Is  God  much  in  my  thoughts, 
and  does  the  consciousness  of  his  presence  en- 
ter into  my  daily  life,  plans,  and  purposes? 
Do  I  sincerely  pray,  and  is  God's  holy  will  as 
such  my  law?" 


1 88  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

The  faith,  courage,  and  patience  of  the  new 
missionaries  were  the  first  qualities  to  be  put 
to  the  test.  The  Taiping  Rebellion,  which 
had  broken  out  in  1850  in  Kwang-si,  one  of 
the  southwestern  provinces,  had  swept  north- 
ward and  gathered  force  as  it  went,  until  in 
1853  the  city  of  Nanking  was  carried  by 
storm.  This  threw  Shanghai  and  the  sur- 
rounding country  into  a  commotion  and  gave 
opportunity  for  a  lawless  band  of  Cantonese, 
more  than  a  thousand  in  number,  to  seize  and 
occupy  it.  These  men,  called  Hoong-der  (red 
heads)  from  the  color  of  their  turbans,  se- 
creted themselves  near  the  city  wall,  throttled 
the  keepers  of  the  gates  at  the  break  of  day, 
and  dragged  the  prefect  and  the  district  mag- 
istrate from  their  beds  and  murdered  them. 
Many  of  the  inhabitants  were  killed  or  eject- 
ed, and  the  foreigners  and  imperial  soldiers 
outside  the  walls  were  defied  by  the  despera- 
does, who  were  banded  together  for  robbery 
and  pillage. 

PERILOUS  TIMES. 

Our  missionary  party  arrived  the  year  after 
the  seizure  of  the  walled  city  and  before  the 
insurgents  had  been  dislodged.  They  found 


JAMES   WILLIAM  LAMBUTH.  189 

temporary  homes  with  the  missionaries,  the 
Lambuths  living  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  W.  G.  E. 
Cunnyngham,  about  six  hundred  yards  from 
the  city  wall.  So  near  were  they  to  the  bat- 
teries on  either  side  that  a  stray  cannon  ball 
would  not  unfrequently  pass  through  the 
house  or  fall  in  the  yard.  Two  months  after 
reaching  Shanghai,  the  Lambuths  were 
obliged  -to  move  out  of  this  house,  which  was 
burned  to  the  ground  shortly  afterwards.  It 
was  unsafe  to  be  in  the  streets,  and  it  was  im- 
possible to  carry  on  the  work  in  the  interior, 
but  the  study  of  the  language  was  vigorous- 
ly pursued  in  the  mornings,  and  the  after- 
noons given  to  visiting  the  sick  and  minister- 
ing to  the  wounded  and  dying. 

This  was  the  day  of  small  things.  Two  na- 
tive Christians  constituted  the  Church,  and 
one  of  these  was  Mr.  Lear,  their  first  preach- 
er. A  union  meeting  of  native  Christians  of 
all  denominations  showed  an  attendance  of 
only  twenty,  and  the  entire  native  Christian 
community  was  not  half  a  hundred.  At  the 
present  writing  there  is  no  church  or  hall  in 
Shanghai  spacious  enough  to  hold  them. 

The  missionary  restlessness  of  the  great 
apostle  to  the  Gentiles  was  characteristic  of 


190  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

William  Lambuth.  Call  it  what  we  may — 
the  pioneer  spirit,  the  deepening  sense  of  ob- 
ligation to  serve  men,  or  the  divine  love  im- 
pelling to  seek  and  save  the  lost — it  con- 
stantly manifested  itself  and  was  irresistible. 
One  day  a  neighboring  village  would  be  vis- 
ited, and  the  next  a  half  dozen  country  ham- 
lets, and  perhaps  the  day  following  some 
walled  city,  into  every  nook  and  corner  of 
which  the  missionary  and  his  assistants  pene- 
trated with  their  evangel.  They  prayed  as 
they  went:  "Lord,  give  thy  servants  an  abun- 
dant entrance.  We  believe  thou  wilt  bless  thy 
word."  The  very  simplicity  of  the  mission- 
ary's faith  made  it  invincible.  Open  doors 
were  constantly  looked  for  and  constantly 
found.  Nor  was  he  surprised  when  the  Lord 
honored  his  faith. 

EMBRACING  OPPORTUNITIES. 

A  Chinese  gentleman  who  lived  on  the 
shore  of  the  Great  Lake  invited  him  to  come 
and  preach  in  his  house.  Early  the  following 
morning,  with  the  promptness  of  a  Havelock, 
he  was  on  his  way,  accompanied  by  Lear. 
They  had  not  gone  far  when  they  met  a  mon- 
ster procession  moving  along  the  bank  of  the 


JAMES  WILLIAM  LAMBUTH.  191 

canal.  It  was  the  birthday  of  an  idol.  Here 
was  an  opportunity  not  to  be  lost;  tracts 
could  be  distributed,  the  scriptures  sold,  and 
the  gospel  preached.  They  quietly  stepped 
ashore  and  began  work.  Mr.  Lambuth  was 
always  careful  not  to  obstruct  a  religious  pro- 
cession, but  their  very  presence  in  this  case 
seemed  to  anger  the  crowd.  The  two  were 
soon  in  the  midst  of  a  surging  mob.  For  a 
few  minutes  they  were  in  fearful  peril,  but  at 
the  critical  moment  an  adherent  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  thinking  they  were  priests, 
rescued  them  at  the  risk  of  his  own  life.  One 
would  suppose  this  would  have  ended  the  ef- 
fort for  that  day.  Not  so.  Nothing  daunted, 
they  preached  on  the  outskirts  of  the  crowd, 
nor  beat  a  retreat  until  again  assaulted,  their 
book  sacks  torn,  and  they  themselves  pelted 
with  bricks  and  mud.  Still  the  day  was  not 
counted  lost.  The  intrepid  missionary  said: 
"In  going  a  little  way  from  the  place  we  found 
our  native  friend  still  with  us.  Glad  of  the 
opportunity,  we  explained  to  him  the  differ- 
ence between  the  Yasu  Kiau  (Jesus  doctrine) 
and  that  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  He 
went  on  with  us  some  two  miles  and  heard  us 
preach  again.  We  left  him  rejoicing  and  with 


1 92  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

the  promise  that  he  would  come  to  Shanghai 
to  see  us  immediately." 

Pushing  on  to  the  Great  Lake,  where  Mr. 
Sung  lived,  the  gentleman  who  had  invited 
them,  they  were  met  by  their  host  and  con- 
ducted to  his  house.  Refreshed  with  a  cup  of 
tea,  they  preached  without  loss  of  time  to  a 
great  multitude  of  people  on  the  shore  of  the 
lake  gathered  from  the  adjacent  tea  and  silk 
farms.  The  effort  was  followed  up  by  the  dis- 
tribution of  tracts  to  those  who  could  read. 
On  their  way  home  Leah  had  an  adventure 
with  a  drunken  man,  who  struck  him  in  the 
eye,  breaking  his  spectacles,  and  threatened  to 
throw  him  into  a  pond.  Shaking  him  off, 
they  reached  a  Buddhist  temple  served  by  a 
lone  priest.  "He  went  in,"  writes  Mr.  Lam- 
buth,  "lit  his  candle  for  us,  and  we  sat  with  him 
about  two  hours  telling  him  of  Jesus  and  the 
true  God."  A  picture  for  a  Rembrandt:  the 
candle-lit  shadows  of  Buddhism,  the  sunshine 
of  a  glorified  Christianity. 

INCESSANT  EFFORT. 

It  was  constantly  busy  with  such  work  as 
this  that  Dr.  Lambuth  spent  thirty-two  years 
in  active  service  in  China.  While  he  consid- 


JAMES  WILLIAM  LAMBUTH.  193 

ered  the  occupation  of  the  cities  of  great  im- 
portance, and  from  the  first  endeavored  to  in- 
trench the  forces  of  the  mission  in  the  various 
walled  towns  of  the  Kiang-su  Province,  he  did 
not  overlook  the  fact  that  the  cities  are  fed 
by  the  more  vigorous  life  of  the  rural  dis- 
tricts. Itinerating  tours  alternated  monthly 
with  work  in  Shanghai,  where  in  those  early 
days  we  can  trace  his  footsteps  as  he  goes 
about  doing  good.  He  seems  to  preach  all 
the  time,  pray  all  the  time,  and  visit  all  the 
time.  And  yet  a  heavy  correspondence  and 
the  study  of  the  language  claimed  many  of 
the  early  and  late  hours  of  the  day.  He  had 
much  of  the  system  of  Wesley  and  the  devo- 
tional habits  of  Fletcher.  While  difficulties 
multiplied  on  every  hand,  and  seeming  dis- 
couragements were  enough  to  dismay  the 
stoutest  heart,  he  quietly  pressed  on  with 
faith  in  God  and  in  the.ultimate  success  of  the 
gospel. 

It  hardly  seems  credible  that  one  so  busily 
employed  in  travel,  preaching,  and  personal 
work  should  have  had  time  to  devote  to  the 
preparation  of  a  Christian  literature.  Yet  we 
find  him  on  a  committee  of  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  into  the  Shanghai  dialect,  and  en- 
13 


1 94  ORE  A  T  MISSION  A  RIBS. 

gaged  in  the  translation  and  publication  of  a 
large  number  of  hymns,  Wesley's  "Sermons," 
the  Discipline,  Binney's  "Theological  Com- 
pend,"  Ryle's  "Notes  on  the  Gospels,"  Rals- 
ton's  "Elements  of  Divinity,"  and  a  number  of 
schoolbooks,  including  a  geography  and  an 
astronomy,  besides  catechisms  and  manuals 
of  various  kinds. 

He  opened  a  boarding  school  for  boys  in 
Shanghai  and  a  number  of  day  schools  at  dif- 
ferent points  in  the  interior.  He  trained  a 
number  of  native  preachers  and  assistants, 
giving  them  systematic  instruction  in  the 
Bible  and  in  the  evidences  of  Christianity. 
Some  of  these  men  have  passed  to  their  re- 
ward after  years  of  faithful  and  devoted  effort, 
while  others  still  cherishing  his  spirit  are  do- 
ing their  best  to  be  true  to  their  trust  which 
came  to  them  in  the  gospel  through  his  hands. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  founda- 
tions of  our  itinerant  work  and  the  develop- 
ment of  a  native  agency  in  the  China  Mission 
were  mostly  due  to  his  patient,  loving  efforts 
during  the  more  than  three  decades  of  labo- 
rious service  in  which  he  was  always  ably  sec- 
onded by  his  gifted  wife. 


JAMES  WILLIAM  LAMBUTH.         195 

OPENING  THE  JAPAN  MISSION. 

The  following  words  are  found  in  a  letter 
written  in  1885  by  Dr.  J.  W.  Lambuth  to  Dr. 
D.  C.  Kelley,  who  was  Assistant  Secretary 
and  Treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Missions:  "If 
our  Board  opens  a  mission  in  Japan,  I  am 
ready  to  go  there  and  help  in  that  work." 
This  sentiment  did  not  express  dissatisfac- 
tion with  the  results  of  the  work  done  in 
China.  It  was  rather  the  expansion  of  the 
missionary  idea  which  had  grown  out  of  a  life- 
long study  of  the  purpose  of  God  in  the  re- 
demption of  every  nation.  A  study  of  the 
field  in  Japan,  with  almost  daily  contact  with 
either  missionaries  or  natives  from  the  Island 
Empire,  had  deepened  the  conviction  that  the 
hour  had  come  for  our  Church  to  enter. 

Bishop  H.  N.  McTyeire,  then  in  charge  of 
the  China  Mission,  in  writing  to  Dr.  Lam- 
buth at  this  time  expressed  himself  as  follows: 
"I  trust  the  Lord's  providence  directs  in  this 
matter,  and  that  he  is  leading  to  good  and 
even  great  results.  May  your  valuable  life 
long  be  preserved  and  your  strength  be  re- 
newed, and  may  its  labors  be  conserved  in  this 
Japan  field  with  the  best  and  largest  results." 
The  reply  of  the  simple-hearted  missionary 


1 96  GREA  T  MISS  ION  A  RIES. 

was  characteristic:  "We  thank  you  and  the 
friends  for  this  determination  to  open  a  mis- 
sion in  Japan.  We  shall  go  leaning  on  the 
omnipotent  arm  of  God  and  seeking  in  our 
work  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  his 
blessing."  In  pursuance  of  the  instructions 
of  the  Bishop,  Dr.  J.  W.  Lambuth  and  Dr.  O. 
A.  Dukes  landed  in  Kobe  in  July,  1886,  fol- 
lowed in  November  by  Dr.  W.  R.  Lambuth. 

ESTABLISHING  HEADQUARTERS. 

Japan  was  a  new  and  untried  field,  but,  rely- 
ing upon  the  guidance  of  the  Divine  Spirit, 
whose  presence  he  had  invoked,  the  founder 
of  the  mission  wisely  settled  upon  Kobe  as 
his  headquarters.  This  growing  city  of  over 
100,000,  upon  a  magnificent  bay  at  the  east- 
ern entrance  of  the  Inland  Sea,  is  the  hinge 
upon  which  both  land  and  sea  travel  turns  in 
all  that  section.  No  better  base  could  have 
been  selected  for  evangelistic  effort.  At  a 
distance  of  only  twenty  miles  the  city  of 
Osaka  can  be  seen  with  more  than  half  a  mil- 
lion people,  its  public  buildings  and  its  factory 
chimneys  gleaming  in  the  evening  sun  until 
it  seems  like  Venice  to  float  on  the  water. 
Beyond  Osaka,  some  fifty  miles  by  rail,  is 


JAMES  WILLIAM  LAMBUTH.  197 

Kioto,  the  western  capital  of  Japan,  with  its 
three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  its  nu- 
merous temples,  its  potteries,  and  especially 
its  schools.  Thus  within  seventy-five  miles 
we  have  the  principal  commercial,  manufac- 
turing', and  educational  centers  of  Japan, 
while  along  the  Inland  Sea  and  in  the  interior 
is  a  population  of  15,000,000  souls  within  al- 
most twenty-four  hours'  reach  by  boat  or  rail. 

FOUNDER  AND  FATHER  OF  THE  MISSION. 

Dr.  J.  C.  C.  Newton,  in  writing  about  the 
early  days  of  the  mission,  speaks  in  the  follow- 
ing terms  of  J.  W.  Lambuth  and  the  first  mis- 
sionaries: "We  know  how  their  hearts  burned 
with  the  fires  of  Christ's  love  as  they  quickly 
saw  stretching  out  far  and  wide  the  fields 
white  for  the  harvest;  and  we  know,  too,  how 
the  heart  of  the  old  warrior  was  stirred  with 
an  ardor  equal  to  that  of  the  two  younger 
men.  With  a  rapidity  that  astonished  other 
missionaries  in  Japan  he  went  through  all  the 
coasts  of  the  Inland  Sea,  preaching  and  talk- 
ing to  the  people.  In  fact,  there  is  scarcely  a 
point  in  our  whole  field,  from  Kobe  to  Oita, 
that  was  not  either  opened  by  him  or  with 
which  his  labors  are  not  connected.  Of  the 


1 98  GREA  T  MfSSION*  R/ES. 

Kobe  Church,  which  for  so  long  a  time  wor- 
shiped in  his  house,  he  is  especially  to  be 
named  as  the  founder  and  father. 

"His  last  trip  into  the  interior  was  to  Ta- 
dotsu.  By  invitation  of  Rev.  C.  B.  Moseley, 
presiding  elder  of  that  district,  he  preached 
and  dedicated  the  new  house  of  worship.  It 
was  fitting  that  he  should  dedicate  the  house, 
for  he  opened  the  work  there  and  ever 
watched  the  tender  vine  planted  in  that  seat 
of  idolatry.  His  constant  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  Japanese  people,  and  his  untiring 
labor  for  their  salvation,  are  known  and  read 
of  all.  There  is  no  desire  to  forget  the  splen- 
did work  of  others,  but  this  now  sainted  man 
of  God  is  the  father  of  our  work,  and  alike  by 
our  Japanese  Christians  and  by  the  mission- 
aries he  will  ever  be  named  our  father." 

UNRESERVED  CONSECRATION. 

In  a  memorial  service  held  immediately 
after  his  death,  Dr.  Newton  brought  out  sev- 
eral characteristics  which  are  true  of  his  life 
and  ministry: 

"First,  one  of  the  strong  characteristics 
of  his  whole  career,  and  also  the  secret 
of  his  usefulness,  was  his  unreserved  conse- 


JAMES  WILLIAM  LAMBUTtt.  199 

cration  to  the  one  thing.  When  as  a  young 
man  just  from  college,  he  heard  the  call 
of  God  to  go  preach  the  gospel  in  the  far- 
off  lands,  he  said:  'Here  am  I;  send  me.' 
There  was  then  and  there  a  complete  giving 
up  of  everything  to  that  one  thing.  Kin- 
dred, parents,  the  prospect  of  a  successful 
career  in  his  native  State — all  were  laid  for- 
ever on  the  altar.  Henceforth  he  cared  for 
nothing,  sought  for  nothing,  except  as  it 
stood  related  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
to  the  heathen.  Social  amenities,  hospitality 
(this  abounded  always),  were  all  consecrated 
to  the  one  great  end  in  the  name  of  Christ. 
Nor  was  he  to  be  a  missionary  for  a  limited 
time — five  or  six  years — and  then  to  return. 
Nay,  he  was  a  missionary  for  life.  Some  of  us 
had  been  thinking  he  ought  to  go  to  America, 
but  he  has  fallen  at  his  post,  just  where  he 
wanted  to  finish  his  course;  and  with  joy,  too. 
He  has  given  us  an  example  of  lifelong,  entire 
consecration  to  the  one  thing  to  which  God 
had  called  him. 

DECISION  OF  CHARACTER. 

"Secondly,  there  was  a  quiet,  gentlemanly 
decision  of  character  which  it  is  well  for  us  to 


200  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

ponder.  His  indomitable  will  stands  out  as  an 
example  worthy  of  all  imitation  as  it  was  il- 
lustrated during  the  late  dreadful  Civil  War. 
During  those  long  years  of  fratricidal  con- 
flict, cut  off  from  the  support  and  almost 
from  all  communication  from  the  home 
Church,  he  remained  at  his  post  through  it  all 
and  carried  on  his  missionary  work.  I  trust 
that  I  may  be  pardoned  for  saying  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  living  this:  When  all  the  annals  of 
missionary  labor  shall  have  been  written  up, 
no  page  of  those  annals  will  shine  brighter 
than  the  one  that  records  the  unquenchable 
devotion  and  heroic  self-sacrifice  of  Dr.  Lam- 
buth  and  of  his  equally  heroic  wife.  In  the 
presence  of  difficulties  that  made  other  stout 
hearts  fail,  his  never  did. 

EXALTED  STANDARD  OF  LIFE. 

"Thirdly,  he  maintained  an  exalted  stand- 
ard of  Christian  life,  illustrating  in  his  own 
personal  life  the  principles  of  the  gospel  which 
he  preached  to  others.  Did  he  preach  repent- 
ance? He  himself  had  repented  and  re- 
nounced every  form  of  sin  and  needless 
fleshly  indulgence.  Faith  in  Christ  as  the 
Lamb  of  God,  the  precious  Blood  that 


JAMES   WILLIAM  LAMBUTH.  2O1 

cleanseth  from  all  sin — this  he  constantly 
preached;  and  his  own  faith  was  a  living  ev- 
eryday reality.  Did  he  preach  the  office  and 
work  of  the  Holy  Ghost?  With  him  it  was 
not  a  mere  theory.  He  had  the  witness  of 
the  Spirit. '  Did  he  exhort  the  native  Chris- 
tians unto  love  supreme  toward  God,  and  to- 
ward each  other  brotherly  love?  He  him- 
self was  an  example  of  consecrated  and  un- 
selfish love. 

"And  here  is  the  secret  of  that  profound  re- 
spect which  the  people  of  China  and  Japan 
have  for  him.  People  can  read  the  inner  heart 
of  their  spiritual  teachers.  This  is  true  ev- 
erywhere, and  especially  so  in  the  East. 
They  saw  in  him  the  actual  experience  and 
power  of  a  redeemed  man.  The  deep  love  of 
Christ  for  their  souls — the  Christ  they  had 
not  seen — they  saw  illustrated,  demonstrated 
in  Christ's  messenger  whom  they  had  seen. 
The  purity  of  his  thoughts,  the  singleness  of 
his  aim,  took  hold  upon  their  respect  and  con- 
fidence. This  is  a  matter  most  important  to 
us.  The  power  and  holiness  of  the  heart  sanc- 
tified by  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  exalted  stand- 
ard of  his  life,  the  absolute  certainty  and  bold- 
ness with  which  he  preached  a  present  and 


202  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

full  salvation  from  all  the  sin  of  the  spirit  and 
filthiness  of  the  flesh — this  is  the  model  for 
us," 

It  was  in  the  month  of  April,  when  the  beau- 
tiful Japanese  maples  begin  to  leaf,  that  Dr. 
Lambuth  made  his  last  trip  into  the  interior. 
A  little  group  of  Japanese  Christians  in  the 
city  of  Tadotsu,  on  the  southern  shore  of  the 
Inland  Sea,  had  been  for  months  earnestly 
studying  the  Word  of  God,  and  had  resolved 
to  build  a  church  in  which  they  might  wor- 
ship and  the  gospel  be  preached.  They  were 
within  a  short  distance  of  the  greatest  hea- 
then shrine  in  all  Japan,  for  do  not  thousands 
of  pilgrims  come  annually  by  sea  and  land  to 
bow  down  before  Kompira,  whose  fame  is 
known  to  every  sailor  and  whose  virtues  have 
penetrated  every  home?  Despite  all  this,  the 
little  band  had  never  lost  heart.  The  men 
had  given  their  ancient  armor  and  the  women 
their  silken  robes  that  the  proceeds  of  sale 
might  be  devoted  to  the  erection  of  a  Chris- 
tian temple,  and  the  oldest  member  of  the 
mission — their  spiritual  father — was  invited 
to  dedicate  it  to  the  Lord. 

It  was  his  last  work.  He  caught  a  severe 
cold  from  sleeping  on  the  floor,  and  returned 


JAMES  WILLIAM  LAMBUTH.  203 

to  Kobe  with  it  rapidly  deepening  into  pneu- 
monia. There  was  much  pain,  but  no  com- 
plaint. After  a  very  trying  night,  he  greeted 
Rev.  W.  E.  Towson  with  the  words:  "God 
has  been  so  good  to  me."  Later  on  through 
the  same  brother  missionary  he  transmitted 
these  words  to  the  native  Church:  "Tell  them 
to  be  faithful — faithful  to  the  end."  To  the 
Church  at  home  he  sent  the  message:  "Tell 
them  I  died  at  my  post.  We  have  a  great 
work  to  do;  tell  them  to  send  more  men." 

In  the  light  of  a  life  wholly  devoted  to  the 
service  of  his  Master,  with  what  can  we  close 
this  sketch  more  appropriately  than  the 
words  of  Dr.  S.  H.  Wainright,  who,  in  sum- 
ming up  the  characteristics  of  this  truly  apos- 
tolic missionary,  said:  "He  was  persistent  in 
work,  unceasing  in  prayer;  always  busy,  al- 
ways praying,  always  talking  to  men  of  God. 
always  talking  of  God  to  men?" 


XXY. 

RE  V.  CHARLES  TAYLOR,  M.D.,  D.D. 

1819-1897. 

Founder  of  the  China  Mission  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South. 

BY  WALTER  R.  LAMBUTH. 


xxy. 

REV.  CHARLES  TATLOR,  M.D.,  D.D. 

ONE  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  the 
General  Missionary  Conference  held  in  New 
Orleans  in  the  spring  of  1901  was  the  pres- 
entation of  a  gavel  by  Mrs.  M.  D.  Wightman, 
President  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Society.  The  gavel  was  made  of  wood 
from  the  pulpit  of  the  old  Methodist  Church 
on  the  Darlington  Circuit,  in  South  Carolina. 
Bishop  E.  R.  Hendrix,  who  occupied  the  chair 
and  received  the  gavel  from  the  hands  of  Mrs. 
Wightman,  alluded  in  beautiful  and  appro- 
priate words  to  the  fact  that  Charles  Taylor, 
then  junior  preacher  on  the  circuit,  knelt  fre- 
quently behind  the  pulpit  of  what  was  known 
as  the  Friendship  Church,  and  fresh  from  his 
knees  earnestly  pleaded  the  obligation  of  the 
Church  to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  in 
the  regions  beyond.  What  wonder  that  this 
young  man  should  have  been  the  first  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  to  have 
offered  himself  for  the  great  work  of  world- 
wide evangelization?  Every  epoch  in  the  his- 


208  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

tory  of  the  Church  has  had  its  beginning  in 
prayer.  It  was  not  otherwise  with  the  foreign 
missionary  movement  of  our  own  Metho- 
dism. The  founding  of  the  China  Mission 
was  the  initial  step  in  a  series  of  great  evangel- 
istic movements  which  have  carried  the  evan- 
gel of  the  Christ  into  many  lands  and  brought 
back  in  reflex  waves  an  untold  blessing  to  the 
Church  at  home. 

THE  MOTHER  OF  MISSIONS. 

The  South  Carolina  Conference  may  well 
be  styled  "The  Mother  of  Missions."  On  the 
marble  shaft  which  marks  the  resting  place  of 
Bishop  William  Capers,  in  the  city  of  Colum- 
bia, are  the  words:  "The  Founder  of  Missions 
to  the  Slaves."  The  zeal  of  the  Methodist 
preachers  in  that  section  for  the  salvation  of 
the  negroes  was  an  inspiration  to  all  the 
Southern  Conferences.  "The  annals  of  mis- 
sionary toil,"  wrote  Dr.  I.  G.  John,  "can  fur- 
nish fewer  nobler  evidences  of  heroic  sacri- 
fice than  were  found  in  the  self-denying  ef- 
forts of  those  men  who  labored  on  the  negro 
missions.  On  the  rice  plantations  of  the  At- 
lantic coast  and  the  sugar  and  cotton  planta- 
tions of  the  Gulf  States  they  bore  the  message 


CHARLES  TAYLOR.  209 

of  life  to  the  cabins  of  the  slaves,  teaching  the 
children  and  training  their  parents  respecting 
the  doctrines  and  duties  that  must  govern  a 
Christian  life.  Every  Christian  master  and 
mistress  cooperated  gladly  in  the  work. 
In  1860,  when  the  war  disturbed  our 
labors  among  these  people,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  reported  a  colored 
membership  of  207,776,  or  nearly  as  many  as 
the  entire  number  of  communicants  that,  in 
that  day,  had  been  gathered  into  Church  re- 
lations by  all  the  Protestant  missionaries  at 
work  in  the  heathen  world.  When  the  record 
of  the  evangelization  of  the  sons  of  Ham  is 
written  by  the  pen  of  an  impartial  historian, 
the  work  of  the  misssionaries  of  the  Southern 
Methodist  Church  will  appear  chief  among 
the  agencies  employed  by  our  Master  for  the 
redemption  of  the  African  race." 

Capers  may  be  regarded  also  as  "the  pio- 
neer of  Methodist  missions  among  the  Indi- 
ans of  the  Southern  States."  In  1822,  six 
years  before  systematic  effort  was  organized 
for  the  negroes,  he  was  appointed  the  first  su- 
perintendent of  Asbury  Mission  among  the 
Creek  Indians,  with  Rev.  Isaac  Hill  as  mis- 
sionary. 
14 


2 1 0  GREA  T  MISS  I  ON  A  RIES. 

It  was  to  this  man,  then  a  presiding  elder, 
of  catholic  spirit  and  world-wide  vision,  that 
Charles  Taylor,  who  had  joined  the  South 
Carolina  Conference,  opened  his  heart,  say- 
ing: "If  the  Church  decides  to  establish  a 
mission  in  Persia,  India,  or  China,  I  am  will- 
ing to  go  where  I  am  needed  most."  In  Wil- 
liam Capers  the  Lord  had  provided  a  won- 
derful organizer  of  missionary  movements;  in 
Charles  Taylor  we  have  a  man  providentially 
qualified  for  laying  foundations  that  will  abide. 

PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  LIFE. 

Charles  Taylor  was  born  in  Boston,  Mass., 
on  September  15,  1819.  His  father,  Dr.  Oli- 
ver Swaine  Taylor,  was  at  that  time  the  As- 
sistant Treasurer  of  the  American  Board  of 
Missions  and  assistant  editor  of  their  month- 
ly periodical,  the  Panoplist,  afterwards,  and 
still  continued  as,  the  Missionary  Herald.  He 
was  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College,  a  phy- 
sician, a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  for  many 
years  a  teacher.  His  parents  having  moved 
to  the  State  of  New  York,  Charles  at  the  age 
of  fifteen  walked  most  of  the  way  to  New 
York  City,  a  distance  of  three  hundred  miles, 
helping  to  drive  a  herd  of  cattle,  for  which 


CHARLES  TAYLOR.  211 

service  he  received  the  small  compensation  of 
a  few  dollars.  Immediately  on  his  arrival 
he  set  about  seeking  employment,  and  soon 
found  an  opening  in  a  dry  goods  store.  The 
proprietor  just  about  that  time  had  been  hap- 
pily converted  at  a  protracted  meeting  in  the 
Bedford  Street  Methodist  Church,  and,  being 
desirous  that  those  in  his  employ  should  ex- 
perience a  similar  blessing,  offered  any  of  his 
clerks  who  wished  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
opportunity  time  from  their  regular  hours 
at  the  store  to  attend  the  meetings.  Charles 
did  so,  and,  becoming  interested,  went  for- 
ward to  the  "altar"  for  prayer  and  instruction 
every  night  for  about  two  weeks,  when  he  too 
found  peace  in  believing. 

CALL  TO  PREACH. 

Though  reared  a  Presbyterian,  he,  with 
the  full  consent  of  his  parents,  united  with 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Soon  aft- 
er this  he  felt  strangely  impressed  that  it  was 
his  duty  to  preach.  During  a  session  of  the 
New  York  Conference  in  that  city,  Bishop 
Andrew  presiding,  the  Duane  Street  Sunday 
School,  to  which  Charles  then  belonged,  had 
a  public  celebration,  and  he  was  appointed  to 


2  1 2  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

deliver  a  short  speech  as  a  part  of  the  exer- 
cises. The  Bishop  was  present  that  night, 
and  had  consented  to  preside  on  the  occa- 
sion. On  the  way  to  the  home  of  the  family 
where  he  was  entertained  he  said  to  those  in 
the  carriage  with  him:  "The  little  fellow  who 
made  that  speech  to-night  will  become  a 
Methodist  preacher  some  of  these  days." 

His  father  being  for  many  years  principal 
of  several  academies,  the  greater  part  of  the 
son's  early  life  had  been  passed  in  the  school- 
room. After  remaining  nearly  two  years  in 
the  store,  he  returned  to  his  boyhood  home, 
and,  after  spending  several  months  there,  re- 
viewing his  former  studies,  he  returned  to  the 
city  in  September,  1836,  and,  after  examina- 
tion, wras  admitted  to  the  Freshman  Class  in 
the  New  York  University.  He  found  him- 
self with  only  $3.62,  and  this  small  sum  hardly 
sufficed  to  buy  two  or  three  indispensable 
text-books.  Then  how  was  he  to  live?  He 
found  employment  in  the  office  of  the  New 
York  Observer,  writing  the  whole  of  every 
Thursday  night  directing  papers,  for  which 
he  was  paid  one  dollar,  which  after  a  few 
weeks  was  increased  to  one  dollar  and  twenty- 
five  cents. 


CHARLES  TAYLOR.  213 

SELF-SUPPORT. 

The  room  in  which  the  printing,  folding, 
and  mailing  of  the  weekly  edition  of  the 
paper  were  done  was  a  large  cellar  basement, 
some  fifteen  feet  under  ground,  and  about 
fifty  by  thirty  feet  in  space.  There  was  a 
large  stove  near  the  middle  of  the  apartment, 
but  its  heat  was  far  from  sufficient  to  warm 
the  large  stone-walled  basement,  which  had 
holes  for  ventilation,  and  these  would  let  in 
large  draughts  of  freezing  winter  air.  So  our 
young  friend's  feet,  after  hours  of  suffering, 
would  become  so  thoroughly  benumbed  by 
the  cold  that  he  could  not  feel  them  at  all, 
and  he  thought  they  might  have  been  cut  off 
without  giving  him  pain.  His  hands  would 
become  so  cold  that  it  was  with  the  great- 
est difficulty  that  he  could  hold  his  pen,  and 
sometimes  he  would  only  know  it  was  between 
his  fingers  by  seeing  it  there  instead  of  feel- 
ing it.  When  morning  came,  and  the  work  of 
the  night  was  over,  the  thawing  out  of  his 
hands  and  feet  by  the  stove  was  accompanied 
by  severe  pain;  but  they  soon  became  so  re- 
stored that  he  could  start  on  his  walk  of  over 
a  mile  along  the  tortuous  streets  of  the  great 
city  to  his  cheerless  attic;  and  then,  with  his 


2 1 4  GREA  T  MISS  ION  A  KIES. 

text-books  under  his  arm,  he  would  hasten  to 
a  kind  family  which  provided  him  with  a  warm 
breakfast,  and,  thus  fortified,  would  go  on  to 
his  daily  recitation.  Before  the  next  winter 
came  on  the  mailing  department  of  the  Ob- 
server was  removed  to  a  comfortable  room  on 
the  second  floor  of  the  building. 

Dr.  John  M.  Reid,  for  many  years  one  of 
the  Missionary  Secretaries  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  was  converted  during  the 
same  meeting  and  at  the  same  altar  with  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  and  the  two  became 
lifelong  friends.  The  father  of  young  Reid, 
living  in  another  part  of  the  city,  owned  a 
two-story  brick  store  and  dwelling  combined 
on  Spring  Street,  in  which  was  a  small  attic 
room  or  garret  on  the  third  floor  that  was 
partly  filled  with  rubbish,  but  was  the  only 
one  in  the  house  unoccupied.  This  was  kind- 
ly offered  to  our  young  friend  if  he  could  make 
it  habitable,  and  Mrs.  Reid  loaned  him  a  small 
cot  bedstead  and  mattress,  some  articles  of 
bedclothing,  a  chair,  a  small  box  cupboard, 
and  a  few  dishes  with  which  to  begin  house- 
keeping. He  bought  a  small  stove  at  second- 
hand for  one  dollar,  and  a  small  pine  table  for 
$1.25.  A  large  goods  box  held  the  few  bush- 


CHARLES  TAYLOR.  215 

els  of  coal  he  had  purchased  and  carried  up 
from  the  street.  Thus  equipped,  he  set  up 
keeping  "bachelor's  hall."  For  food  he 
bought  a  loaf  of  baker's  bread  and  a  pint  of 
molasses,  which  cost  but  little,  and  lasted 
about  two  days,  and  this  made  his  dollar  a 
week  more  than  support  him,  though  he  often 
felt  the  cravings  of  hunger.  Still  he  was 
cheerful,  hopeful,  enthusiastic,  and  happy — 
studied  diligently,  and  kept  in  the  first  grade 
of  his  class  in  all  his  college  studies  through 
the  whole  four  years'  course. 

ASSOCIATION  WITH  MORSE. 

It  was  in  the  university  that  the  young  stu- 
dent became  associated  with  Prof.  Morse, 
who  appreciated  so  highly  his  intelligent  in- 
terest in  science  that  he  availed  himself  of  his 
assistance  in  his  first  experiment  in  telegra- 
phy. Dr.  Taylor  in  after  life  often  referred 
to  the  delightful  hours  with  Morse  who,  while 
employed  in  coiling  the  wire  of  his  batteries 
in  the  half  barrels  arranged  in  rows  around 
the  walls  of  his  laboratory  and  in  the  halls  of 
the  university,  aroused  in  his  assistant  a 
thirsting  for  knowledge  which  burned  like  a 
fire  in  his  bones.  While  the  great  scientist 


2 1 6  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

electrified  his  students  with  glowing  zeal  and 
pleasurable  anticipation  of  great  discoveries, 
he  little  realized  in  the  case  of  young  Taylor 
how,  as  we  have  already  indicated,  the  swift 
hours  of  the  day  were  offset  by  long  nights  of 
toil. 

During  his  Friday's  recitations  he  would 
be  so  completely  overcome  by  drowsiness 
from  the  loss  of  sleep  for  the  whole  night  be- 
fore that  on  one  occasion  his  book  dropped 
from  his  hands  to  the  floor.  This  mishap 
brought  a  reproof  from  the  professor.  When 
the  young  student  at  the  close  of  the  recita- 
tion explained  to  him  the  cause,  his  eyes 
moistened  and  he  apologized  with  words  of 
commendation.  A  kind  family,  but  of  moder- 
ate means,  who  were  cognizant  of  young  Tay- 
lor's circumstances  and  labors,  insisted  that 
he  should  come  to  their  house  every  Friday 
morning  and  get  a  warm  breakfast,  the  bet- 
ter to  brace  him  up  for  the  duties  of  the  day 
after  his  night  of  toil.  Occasionally,  too, 
there  were  other  friends  who  had  become 
aware  of  his  condition  and  would  invite  him 
to  a  meal  with  them. 

HEROIC  SELF-DENIAL. 

Winter  soon  came  on  with  unusual  sever- 


CHARLES  TAYLOR.  217 

ity,  and  our  youth  was  but  poorly  prepared 
to  endure  its  rigors.  He  would  sometimes  lie 
awake  the  whole  night  long,  shivering  with 
cold,  being  unable  to  sleep  for  want  of  suf- 
ficient bed  covering,  and  occasionally  would 
find  his  bed  partly  covered  with  snow,  which 
had  sifted  in  through  the  crevices  and  broken 
glass  of  the  ill-fitting  windows  and  dilapida- 
ted roof. 

He  would  now  and  then  vary  his  diet  by  in- 
dulging in  the  more  expensive  luxuries  of 
crackers,  cheese,  and  smoked  herring.  He 
had  thus  lived  so  sparingly  that  at  the  close 
of  the  first  year  in  the  university  he  had  saved 
not  only  enough  to  pay  his  traveling  expenses 
to  his  home  for  the  summer  vacation,  but  had 
eight  dollars  over,  which  he  gave  to  his  sur- 
prised and  delighted  mother. 

As  the  fall  season  drew  near,  in  which  he 
was  to  return  to  the  university,  he  collected 
from  a  dilatory  patron  a  long-overdue  tuition 
bill  given  him  by  his  father,  with  which  to  de- 
fray his  expenses  back  to  the  city.  For  this 
year  he  secured  a  large  and  comfortable  room 
in  the  university  building,  the  rent  for  which 
he  and  his  two  or  three  roommates  paid  by 
doing  watchman's  duty,  going  alternately 


2 1 8  GRBA  T  MISS  ION  A  RIES. 

through  the  building  every  half  hour  during 
the  night  to  guard  against  incendiaries;  for,  a 
few  months  before,  a  pile  of  combustibles  just 
lighted  had  been  discovered  in  the  cellar 
barely  in  time  to  prevent  a  conflagration. 

He  still  continued  the  same  frugal  diet  as 
in  the  year  before,  but  had  in  the  meantime 
found  an  opportunity  to  do  some  writing  in 
another  newspaper  office,  also  at  night,  once 
in  two  weeks,  the  proceeds  of  which  so  added 
to  his  income  that  on  arrival  at  home  on  his 
second  summer  vacation  he  placed  five  five- 
dollar  gold  pieces  under  his  mother's  plate  at 
the  table.  As  she  turned  it  up  her  eyes  filled 
with  tears,  and  her  look  of  surprise  and  grati- 
tude, mingled  with  pride  and  pleasure  as  she 
embraced  and  kissed  her  boy,  made  that  one 
of  the  happiest  moments  in  his  life,  and  amply 
compensated  him  for  all  the  self-denials  in- 
volved in  the  gift. 

FIRST  MISSIONARY  ADDRESS. 

He  had  attached  himself  to  the  Greene 
Street  Methodist  Church  and  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Bible  class  taught  by  the  celebrated 
Joseph  Longking,  the  author  of  "Notes  on 
the  Gospels,"  etc.  His  friend,  John  M.  Reid, 


CHARLES  TATLOR.  219 

a  little  older  than  himself,  was  also  a  member 
of  the  same  class  and  President  of  the  Juve- 
nile Missionary  Society  that  had  been  organ- 
ized in  the  Sunday  school  and  held  monthly 
meetings  of  great  interest.  Here  our  young 
friend  wrote  and  delivered  his"  first  missionary 
address,  and  about  this  time  formed  the  pur- 
pose that  if  the  way  should  ever  be  opened  he 
would  go  as  a  missionary  to  the  heathen. 

His  health  having  suffered  somewhat  from 
his  irregular  mode  of  living,  he  made  arrange- 
ments with  some  friends  to  take  regular  board 
with  them,  they  agreeing  to  wait  for  payment 
until  he  might  be  able  by  teaching  after  his 
graduation  to  liquidate  the  debt.  He,  how- 
ever, paid  them  as  he  went  along  from  the 
proceeds  of  his  night  work  in  the  newspaper 
offices,  which  he  still  kept  up  with  increased 
labor  and  compensation.  So  things  went  on 
through  the  two  remaining  years  of  his  uni- 
versity course,  at  the  end  of  which  he  gradu- 
ated, in  June,  1840,  with  the  highest  honors  of 
his  class. 

TEACHING  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

During  that  same  month  he  met  Dr.  Wil- 
liam M.  Wightman,  then  editor  of  the  South- 


220  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

cm  Christian  Advocate,  who  had  come  to  New 
York  on  a  visit,  and  who  encouraged  him  to 
come  to  South  Carolina  and  carry  out  his 
plans  for  teaching.  He  accordingly  in  that 
fall  took  passage  in  a  schooner  from  New 
York  to  Charleston,  and,  arriving  there  safe- 
ly, was  hospitably  welcomed  by  the  family  of 
Rev.  John  Mood.  He  at  first  engaged  in  an 
enterprise  that  promised  more  lucrative  and 
speedy  remuneration  than  teaching,  but 
which  proved  to  be  a  failure  and  brought  him 
some  two  hundred  dollars  more  deeply  in 
debt.  He  then,  toward  the  close  of  the  win- 
ter, taught  a  private  school  in  Aiken,  S.  C., 
for  a  few  months,  when  a  more  desirable  posi- 
tion was  offered  him  as  tutor  in  a  private 
family  for  the  summer  season,  near  Flat 
Rock,  N.  C. 

During  this  time  Dr.  Wightman  (afterwards 
Bishop)  had  kept  him  in  mind,  and,  being 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
South  Carolina  Conference  School  at  Cokes- 
bury,  presented  the  name  and  secured  the 
election  of  his  young  friend  to  fill  a  vacancy 
that  had  occurred  in  the  faculty  of  that  insti- 
tution in  the  fall  of  1841,  with  such  a  liberal 
salary  as  enabled  him  in  three  years  to  pay  all 


CHARLES  TAYLOR.  221 

his  debts  and  send  several  hundred  dollars  to 
his  parents  besides.  While  thus  employed  as 
classical  teacher,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  in 
1842,  and  on  Saturdays  and  Sundays  rilled 
many  appointments  at  the  various  churches 
on  the  Cokesbury  Circuit.  Toward  the  close 
of  a  memorable  year  in  1844,  he  declined  a 
flattering  offer  from  the  trustees  to  increase 
his  salary  by  one-half  if  he  would  remain  in 
the  school,  and  applied  for  admission  on  trial 
into  the  South  Carolina  Conference  at  its 
session  in  Columbia.  Bishop  Andrew  pre- 
sided, and  when  informed  that  one  of  the 
class  just  admitted  was  the  little  fellow  of 
whom  he  had  made  the  prediction  ten  years 
before  remarked  that  in  that  case  at  least  he 
had  proved  himself  to  be  a  true  prophet. 

ON  THE  DARLINGTON  CIRCUIT. 

At  this  Conference  he  was  appointed  jun- 
ior preacher  on  the  Darlington  Circuit,  which 
required  travel  of  two  hundred  and  forty 
miles,  with  preaching  twenty-four  times  in 
twenty-eight  days,  leaving  only  each  Monday 
in  the  month  for  a  rest  day.  During  the  lat- 
ter part  of  that  year,  when  his  presiding  elder, 
Dr.  William  Capers,  came  to  hold  one  of  the 


2  2  5  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

quarterly  meetings,  they  stayed  at  the  same 
house;  and  after  dinner  on  Saturday  the  con- 
versation turned  to  our  Church,  which  had  just 
been  organized  a  few  months  before  by  the 
convention  at  Louisville,  Ky.  Dr.  Capers  re- 
marked that  now,  as  we  were  entering  on  a 
new  era  in  our  history,  the  Church  should  in- 
augurate some  foreign  missionary  enterprise, 
in  order  at  once  to  stimulate  the  energy  and 
active  liberality  of  our  people. 

The  young  preacher  heartily  coincided  with 
this  view,  and  remarked  that  he  had  long  con- 
templated engaging  in  such  work,  and  was 
only  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  carry  out 
his  purpose.  The  good  Doctor  seemed  sur- 
prised and  pleased,  and  immediately  asked  to 
what  foreign  field  he  had  thought  of  going. 
The  young  man  replied  that  he  had  not  fixed 
upon  any  particular  field,  but  would  be  will- 
ing to  go  anywhere — Persia,  India,  China,  or 
wherever  he  might  be  most  needed.  Dr. 
Capers  then  asked  him  if  he  would  really  be 
willing  to  go  to  China.  He  unhesitatingly  re- 
plied that  he  would.  The  Doctor  then  re- 
quested him  to  write  him  a  letter  proposing 
such  a  mission,  and  said  he  would  publish  it  in 
the  Southern  Christian  Advocate,  accompany- 


CHARLES  TAYLOR.  223 

ing  it  with  comments  of  his  own.  This  was 
done,  and  followed  up  by  several  others'from 
young  Taylor,  strongly  urging  the  project^ 

^^^»  /* » 

APPOINTED  TO  CHINA. 

At  the  first  General  Conference  of  the  X, 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  held  in  7X  ^ 
the  city  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  during  May  of  the 
next  year  (1846),  Dr.  Capers  was  elected  bish- 
op, a  Board  of  Missions  was  organized,  and 
Charles  Taylor  was  appointed  the  first  mis- 
sionary of  our  Church  to  China.  It  was  at  the 
close  of  this  year,  on  December  27,  that  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Charlotte  Jane  Gamewell, 
who  was  born  in  Marlboro  District,  S.  C.,  on 
May  20,  1828,  and  was  the  youngest  child  of 
Rev.  John  Gamewell,  who  had  been  ordained 
by  Bishop  Asbury  and  was  one  of  the  pioneer 
preachers  of  the  South  Carolina  Conference. 
The  distance  to  China  was  so  great,  and  the 
possibilities  of  sickness  and  other  trials  were 
such,  that  it  was  thought  eminently  desirable 
that  Dr.  Taylor  should  have  a  colleague. 
Consequently  a  volunteer  was  called  for 
through  the  Church  papers,  and  it  seemed 
surprising  that  nearly  two  years  elapsed  be- 
fore one  was  found.  In  the  meantime  Tay- 


224  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

lor  was  diligently  studying  medicine,  and  at- 
tended two  courses  of  lectures  in  Philadel- 
phia, graduating  there  and  receiving  his  di- 
ploma in  March,  1848.  A  short  time  before 
that  Benjamin  Jenkins,  superintendent  of  the 
printing  office  of  the  Southern  Christian  Advo- 
cate, was  secured,  licensed  to  preach,  and  ap- 
pointed as  a  colleague  to  Dr.  Taylor,  who  had 
been  ordained  a  deacon  by  Bishop  Capers  in 
1846,  and  both  proceeded  to  Norfolk,  Va., 
where  farewell  missionary  services  were  held 
by  Bishop  Andrew,  who  first  ordained  Broth- 
er Jenkins  as  deacon  in  the  forenoon,  and 
then  ordained  both  as  elders  in  the  afternoon. 

The  Bishop  and  Dr.  Wightman,  who  had 
come  from  Charleston  to  be  present,  informed 
Dr.  Taylor  that,  as  he  had  made  the  matter  a 
study  for  over  two  years,  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions had  left  the  selection  of  the  point  at 
which  to  begin  our  work  in  China  exclusively 
to  him.  -He  fixed  upon  Shanghai  as  in  his 
judgment  possessing  advantages  and  oppor- 
tunities superior  to  those  of  any  of  the  other 
ports  open  to  occupancy,  and  accordingly  de- 
cided upon  that  location. 

OUTWARD  BOUND. 

The  two  missionaries,  with  their  families, 


CHARLES  TAT  LOR.  225 

sailed  from  Boston  on  April  24,  1848,  on  the 
Cleone,  a  very  small  and  uncomfortable  ship. 
Their  sleeping  rooms  were  about  seven  feet 
long  by  about  five  in  width,  on  each  side  of  a 
cabin  about  seven  feet  by  nine,  which  consti- 
tuted their  only  sitting  room  for  five  long 
months  of  the  voyage.  Their  fare  was  but  lit- 
tle better  than  that  furnished  our  soldiers 
during  the  late  war,  consisting  mainly  of  salt 
junk  and  hard-tack.  To  add  to  their  discom- 
fort, the  captain  was  a  surly,  ill-tempered  man, 
and  frequently  cursed  Brother  Jenkins's  chil- 
dren. Dr.  Taylor  asked  his  permission  to 
hold  public  worship  on  Sunday  on  deck  for 
the  benefit  of  the  ship's  company  and  sailors. 
He  consented  so  reluctantly,  and  showed  such 
a  manifest  dislike  for  the  services,  that  after 
a  few  Sundays  they  were  discontinued. 

After  three  months  without  sight  of  land 
their  ship  entered  the  Strait  Sunda,  between 
the  islands  of  Java  and  Sumatra.  The  natives, 
Malays,  brought  off  many  boat  loads  of  trop- 
ical fruits,  besides  pigs,  ducks,  geese,  and  tur- 
tles, so  that  from  this  time  on  their  food  was 
far  more  palatable. 

A  month  longer  of  sailing  through  the 
Java  Sea  and  the  great  Eastern  Archipelago, 
15 


226  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

passing  the  islands  of  Borneo,  Celebes,  and 
the  Philippines,  brought  them  to  Hongkong. 
Arriving  there,  the  health  of  Mrs.  Jenkins  was 
so  feeble  that  the  husband  took  the  family 
ashore,  while  Dr.  Taylor,  his  wife,  and  their 
infant  son,  after  spending  a  week  at  Canton, 
proceeded  one  thousand  miles  up  the  coast 
of  China  to  Shanghai.  Encountering  strong 
head  winds  in  the  Formosa  Channel,  this  part 
of  the  voyage  took  a  month  longer. 

Arriving  at  last  at  the  port  of  their  destina- 
tion, they  were  most  hospitably  received  and 
entertained  by  the  Baptist  missionaries,  who 
had  preceded  them  there,  and  who  assisted 
them  in  renting  a  Chinese  dwelling.  Dr.  Tay- 
lor at  once  procured  a  native  teacher,  and  ap- 
plied himself  so  assiduously  to  the  study  of 
the  language  that  at  the  end  of  six  months  he 
made  his  first  effort  at  preaching.  After  nine 
months  of  unavoidable  delay,  his  colleague  ar- 
rived and  joined  him  at  Shanghai. 

STREET  PREACHING. 

After  acquiring  enough  of  the  spoken  dia- 
lect to  make  himself  readily  understood,  the 
missionary  would  take  daily  walks  into  the 
city,  conversing  with  the  natives  in  their 


CHARLES  TAT  LOR.  227 

shops  and  stores,  discoursing  to  crowds  at 
their  places  of  public  resort,  and  distributing 
tracts  to  such  as  could  read.  The  most  noted 
place  of  public  gatherings  was  the  large  open 
space  in  front  of  the  "Ching  Wong  Mian" 
(the  City  Guardian's  Temple).  Here  would 
assemble  jugglers,  gamblers,  cricket  fighters, 
tooth  pullers — displaying  a  peck  or  so  of 
teeth  which  they  claimed  to  have  extracted 
— quack  specialists,  and  mountebanks  of  all 
imaginable  varieties.  The  missionary  would 
take  his  stand  on  the  topmost  steps  of  the 
temple,  its  wide  portals  open  behind  him,  and 
with  the  huge  idols  in  full  view  would  descant 
on  the  folly  of  worshiping  such  objects,  the 
work  of  their  own  hands.  The  (at  that  time) 
novel  sight  of  a  foreigner  and  hearing  him 
speak  their  own  language  soon  drew  the 
crowds  from  all  the  other  centers  of  attrac- 
tion, leaving  them  deserted,  and  venting  their 
wrath  in  abusing  him  who  had  so  unceremoni- 
ously attracted  their  customers  and  listeners 
to  himself.  In  this  way  he  would  often  have 
as  many  hearers  as  could  stand  packed  to- 
gether within  the  sound  of  his  voice. 

SCHOOL  WORK. 
He  also  established  a  day  school  by  renting 


228  GRBA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

a  suitable  room  and  employing  a  native  teach- 
er at  three  dollars  a  month.  He  visited  the 
families  in  the  neighborhood,  inviting  them 
to  send  their  children  free  of  charge,  with  the 
understanding  that  they  were  to  be  taught 
Christian  doctrines  while  learning  their  own 
language.  Very  few  objected  to  this,  being 
too  poor  to  pay  for  their  tuition  and  consid- 
ering it  very  desirable  that  all  their  boys 
should  be  educated  in  their  own  language  and 
literature,  knowing  that  if  they  should  devel- 
op into  scholars  and  be  able  to  pass  the  reg- 
ular examinations  they  would  become  eligi- 
ble to  any  office  in  the  empire.  They  were 
also  encouraged  to  send  their  daughters,  and 
quite  a  number  did  so. 

As  the  Chinese  have  no  weeks  in  their  reck- 
oning time,  but  only  years  and  months,  or 
moons,  etc.,  working  every  day  alike  all  the 
year  round,  excepting  special  festive  days, 
which  are  numerous — the  missionaries  pre- 
pared and  had  printed,  on  single  pages  or 
sheets,  a  calendar,  according  to  their  own 
computing  of  time,  and  in  parallel  columns, 
side  by  side  with  it,  our  own,  showing  on  what 
days  of  their  moons  our  Sundays  came;  and 
in  accordance  with  their  custom  of  keeping 


CHARLES  TAYLOR.  229 

up  their  schools  through  all  the  days,  they  did 
not  dismiss  theirs  on  Sundays,  but  simply 
changed  it  to  a  Sunday  school,  requiring  the 
teacher  to  use  only  Christian  books — copies 
of  the  Gospels,  tracts,  a  catechism — teaching 
them  especially  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed, 
and  the  Ten  Commandments,  which  were 
written  in  characters  large  enough  to  be  read 
from  the  farthest  part  of  the  room  and  hung 
on  scrolls  four  or  five  feet  long  against  the 
wall  over  the  teacher's  platform.  Most  of  the 
pupils  learned  to  repeat  all  these  from  mem- 
ory. 

TRANSLATION. 

Dr.  Taylor  also  wrote,  and  with  the  aid  of 
his  teacher  translated  into  the  Shanghai  dia- 
lect and  had  printed  in  tract  form,  a  "Com- 
pendium of  Christian  Doctrine,"  of  which, 
with  other  tracts  and  leaflets,  he  distributed 
many  thousands.  On  one  sheet,  nearly  a  foot 
square,  he  had  printed  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, the  Creed,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  to- 
gether with  a  calendar,  both  Chinese  and  for- 
eign in  parallel  columns,  showing  on  what 
days  of  the  moons  their  Sundays  occurred, 
and  distributed  an  edition  of  ten  thousand  of 
them  with  his  own  hands  in  the  shops  and 


2  30  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

dwellings  of  the  city,  accompanying  each  with 
the  request  that  it  be  pasted  on  the  wall 
in  a  conspicuous  place.  In  looking  into 
many  of  these  places  as  he  passed  through  the 
streets  of  the  city  days  and  weeks  afterwards, 
he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  that  the  re- 
quest had  been  complied  with  in  many  in- 
stances. 

MEDICAL  WORK. 

Occasional  excursions  by  boat  into  the  sur- 
rounding cities  and  towns  constituted  an  in- 
teresting part  of  his  work.  He  would  on 
such  occasions  take  along  a  supply  of  medi- 
cines, as  well  as  books  and  tracts,  and  admin- 
ister to  such  cases  as  could  come  to  him  at 
his  boat.  Crowds  would  assemble  at  every 
stopping  place,  whom  he  would  instruct  as 
well  as  relieve.  He  found  his  medical  prac- 
tice a  most  valuable  adjunct  to  his  efforts  at 
gaining  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  the 
people,  and  it  often  gave  him  access  to  many 
whom  he  could  reach  by  no  other  means.  On 
one  occasion  he  performed  a  successful  oper- 
ation on  the  eye  of  a  poor  man,  which  so 
greatly  relieved  him  that  he  continued  to  ex- 
press his  appreciation  every  day  for  a  long 
time. 


CHARLES  TAT  LOR.  231 

In  many  instances  where  relief  was  afford- 
ed the  patients  uttered  most  extravagant  ex- 
pressions of  gratitude.  It  greatly  surprised 
them  that  the  foreigner  would  give  them 
medical  and  surgical  treatment,  and  remedies 
so  far  superior  to  the  bulky  and  nauseous 
compounds  of  their  own  apothecaries,  and  yet 
require  no  remuneration  in  return.  One  poor 
fellow  showed  me  a  dried  centiped  four 
inches  long,  which  he  was  about  to  pulverize 
and  swallow  in  a  cup  of  tea  as  a  remedy  for 
rheumatism  in  his  knee.  He  said  he  had 
taken  one  already.  This  was  in  accordance 
with  one  of  the  principles  of  Chinese  medical 
philosophy,  which  is  that  portions  of  certain 
animals  taken  internally  will  impart  to  the 
persons  who  take  the  remedies  the  qualities 
that  distinguish  those  animals.  Therefore, 
because  the  centiped  is  remarkably  flexible, 
it  would  remove  the  stiffness  of  a  rheumatic 
limb. 

NATIVE  REMEDIES. 

The  compounders  of  native  medicines  take 
a  live  deer  and  beat  it  in  a  large  stone  mortar 
— horns,  hoofs,  hide,  hair,  bones,  flesh,  and 
entrails — to  an  indistinguishable  mass,  which 
they  make  up  into  large  pills  to  be  sold  to 


232  GREA  T  MISSIONARIES. 

persons  who  have  become  infirm  or  decrepit, 
either  from  age  or  disease,  with  the  idea  that 
they  will  impart  agility  and  renewed  vigor  to 
those  thus  enfeebled,  because,  forsooth,  the 
deer  is  a  remarkably  active  animal.  In  accord- 
ance with  this  sage  theory,  pills  made  of  the 
bones  of  tigers  are  given  to  soldiers  before 
going  into  battle  to  render  them  fierce  and 
brave. 

The  native  physicians  always  feel  the  pulse 
in  both  wrists  before  they  prescribe.  They  as- 
sert that  there  is  a  difference  in  the  pulsations, 
and  they  pretend  to  distinguish  nearly  a  hun- 
dred varieties  in  the  character  of  the  pulse. 
As  they  never  practiced  dissection — " 
having  a  great  horror  of  cutting  a  dead  body, 
and,  indeed,  a  living  one  also,  for  the  use  of 
the  knife  in  surgery  is  unknown  to  them — 
their  ideas  of  anatomy  are  exceedingly  crude 
and  absurd.  For  instance,  in  some  drawings 
pretending  to  show  the  internal  structure  of 
the  human  body  you  will  see  exhibited  five 
parallel  tubes  leading  from  the  throat  into  the 
stomach! 

Notwithstanding  these  and  many  other 
crudities,  the  experience  of  centuries  has 
taught  them  the  properties  of  many  really 


CHARLES  TATLOR.  233 

valuable  remedial  agents,  -mostly  vegetable, 
of  which  they  have  an  immense  variety — 
herbs,  barks,  roots,  leaves,  flowers,  seeds, 
gums,  and  berries.  They  also  have  some  min- 
eral medicines,  among  which  are  several 
preparations  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  iron,  and 
mercury.  This  last  named  they  call  "water 
silver."  The  diseases  prevalent  at  Shanghai 
are  similar  to  those  in  corresponding  latitudes 
and  localities  in  this  country;  but  the  native 
treatment,  being  entirely  empirical,  is  far  from 
being  successful.  When  there  is  temporary 
mental  aberration,  which  often  occurs  during 
sickness,  they  say  one  of  the  three  souls, 
which  they  imagine  every  person  possesses, 
has  left  the  body,  and  we  have  sometimes 
heard  the  relatives  of  the  sufferer  howling 
about  the  vicinity  of  the  dwelling  through 
the  whole  night,  calling  the  strayed  soul  to 
return  home  to  its  abode. 

LEPROSY  AND  SMALLPOX. 

Diseases  of  the  eye  are  far  more  common 
than  with  us,  and  great  numbers  of  persons  of 
all  ranks  and  ages  thus  afflicted  come  to  Mr. 
Taylor  for  treatment.  Many  were  relieved  by 
local  applications,  and  many  others  by  surgi- 


234  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

cal  operations.  Cutaneous  diseases  are  also 
very  prevalent,  especially  among  the  lower 
classes,  arising  mainly  from  their  neglect  of 
personal  cleanliness.  Here  also,  for  the  first 
time,  he  saw  cases  of  leprosy.  It  is  contagious 
and  regarded  as  incurable.  Smallpox  is  com- 
mon, but  they  have  learned  to  guard  against 
its  ravages  by  inoculation  in  infancy.  The 
mode  is  singular.  Selecting  that  age  of  the 
child,  the  condition  of  the  system,  and  the 
season  of  the  year  which  experience  has 
taught  them  to  be  most  favorable,  they  take 
a  bit  of  cotton,  and,  going  to  one  who  has  the 
disease  fully  developed,  they  pick  open  a  pus- 
tule, saturate  the  cotton  with  the  virus,  and 
insert  it  in  both  nostrils  of  the  child.  This 
of  course  communicates  the  disease.  Their 
treatment  consists  chiefly  in  dieting,  exclu- 
sion of  light,  and  keeping  the  body  and  limbs 
confined  in  a  bag  which  is  tied  around  the 
neck.  The  issue  is  generally  favorable,  but  it 
sometimes  results  in  death.  Vaccination  was 
introduced  by  foreign  missionary  physicians, 
and  greatly  delighted  the  natives  as  being  less 
troublesome  and  hazardous,  while  it  was 
quite  as  efficacious.  Elephantiasis  is  another 
disease  which  is,  if  we  are  not  mistaken,  more 


CHARLES  TATLOR.  235 

frequently  met  with  in  China  than  in  most 
other  countries.  He  saw  a  case  in  which  tha 
leg  at  the  knee  was  twenty-seven  inches  in 
circumference.  It  was  hard  and  rough  like 
that  of  an  elephant,  and  nearly  as  large  all 
the  way  up  to  the  body;  hence  the  name. 

GRATEFUL  PATIENTS. 

Here  is  a  specimen  of  letters  to  him  by  some 
of  his  patients: 

"Respectfully  imploring  of  Tay-seen-sang's 
[Taylor  Mr.]  genii-like  pills  one  dose.  Yoh 
Yen's  body  is  sick.  His  face  is  red  and  puffed 
out.  There  is  all  the  time  much  expectora- 
tion and  cough  with  difficulty  of  breathing. 
The  entrance  into  his  stomach  is  not  open 
[i.  e.,  he  cannot  eat].  His  four  limbs  are 
also  puffed  out.  The  bones  in  his  side  when 
he  coughs  are  also  painful.  He  cannot  lie 
down  long  at  a  time,  and  is  very  much  con- 
fused. He  prays  you  to  bestow  your  spir- 
itual [i.  e.,  efficacious]  medicines,  for  which, 
when  swallowed  and  he  is  perfectly  recovered, 
it  will  be  his  duty  to  worship  and  thank  you. 
The  later  born,  Yoh,  entreats."  Later  born 
— i.  e.,  younger,  or  inferior,  is  tantamount  to 
''Your  obedient  servant." 


236  GREA  T  MISS  ION  A  RIES. 

A  second  letter  from  the  same  man  says: 
"Stooping  and  praying  Tay-seen-sang  that  he 
will  yet  again  bestow  of  his  genii-like  medi- 
cine one  dose."  Then,  after  repeating  the  de- 
scription of  his  symptoms  contained  in  the 
first,  he  says:  "I  pray  and  implore  some  more 
of  your  spirit-like  medicine  and  I  shall  be  per- 
fectly well.  Your  teacher  can  make  all  this 
as  clear  as  lightning." 

In  a  third  letter  of  similar  import,  his  near- 
ly complete  recovery,  he  calls  the  remedies 
"divinely  devised,  mysterious  medicines." 
The  poor  fellow  was  a  cabinetmaker  from 
Ning-po,  a  large  seaport  city  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  southwest  of  Shang- 
hai. He  was  in  a  truly  pitiable  condition 
when  the  Doctor  first  saw  him,  but  he  went 
home  nearly  well,  taking  some  Christian 
books  and  tracts  which  he  had  given  him. 
The  gratuitous  medical  relief  he  had  experi- 
enced was  also  a  powerful  argument  in  favor 
of  the  religious  truths  constantly  pressed 
upon  his  attention,  and  this  was  found  to  be 
universally  the  case. 

LABORING  UNDER  DISADVANTAGES. 
The  writer  in  his  medical  practice,  subsidi- 


CHARLES  TAYLOR.  237 

ary  to  his  preaching  and  teaching,  labored  un- 
der great  disadvantages.  Having  no  separate 
building,  not  even  a  room  in  his  dwelling  that 
could  be  used  exclusively  for  hospital  pur- 
poses, he  made  his  study  also  serve  the  pur- 
pose of  a  dispensary,  having  his  medicines  on 
shelves  in  one  corner.  His  studies  and  spe- 
cific missionary  work  forbade  his  engaging 
in  an  out-of-door  practice,  as  it  would  have 
taken  all  his  time  to  visit  patients.  His  la- 
bors, therefore,  in  this  department  were  great- 
ly circumscribed;  and  yet  in  scores  of  cases 
the  bodily  relief  afforded  opened  the  way  for 
the  inculcation  of  Christian  truth,  and  se- 
cured for  it  favorable  consideration  that  it 
would  not  otherwise  have  received.  His 
medical  equipment  also  procured  access  to 
some  in  the  higher  classes  whom  he  could  not 
otherwise  have  reached,  and  in  all  such 
cases  he  accompanied  the  administration  of 
remedies  for  healing  the  body  with  words, 
both  spoken  and  printed,  for  healing  the  soul. 
It  is  reasonable  to  hope  that  some  of  those 
who  were  thus  relieved  afterwards  renounced 
their  idolatrous  superstitions  and  practices 
and  were  eventually  brought  to  a  saving  be- 
lief in  Christ.  By  all  means,  then,  let  medical 


238  GREA  T  MISS  I  ON  A  RIES. 

mission  work  be  encouraged  and  increased  as 
a  most  valuable  adjunct  to  the  direct  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel  in  heathen  lands. 

RETURN  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Mrs.  Taylor's  health  having  failed,  she  was 
prevailed  upon  to  return  to  this  country  in 
company  with  some  other  missionaries,  with 
the  hope  that  the  voyage  might  restore  her 
health.  Dr.  Taylor  remained  at  his  work  two 
years  longer,  when  the  great  Tai-ping  Rebel- 
lion seriously  interrupted  all  missionary  work. 
Learning  at  the  same  time  that  his  wife's 
health  had  not  substantially  improved,  he  re- 
luctantly left  the  field,  and  sailed  from  Shang- 
hai October  i,  1853,  just  five  years  from  the 
date  of  his  arrival,  landing  in  New  York 
April  12,  1854. 

In  1856  he  was  made  professor  in  the  Spar- 
tanburg  Female  College,  and  in  1857  Presi- 
dent of  that  institution.  In  1858  he  was  elect- 
ed by  the  General  Conference  the  first  Sunday 
School  Secretary  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South. 
From  1 86 1  to  1865  he  was  a  presiding  elder  in 
the  South  Carolina  Conference.  In  1866  he 
was  elected  the  first  President  of  the  Wesley- 
an  College,  of  Kentucky.  After  a  very  sue- 


CHARLES  TAT  LOR.  239 

cessful  presidency  of  four  years,  preferring  the 
pastoral  work,  he  resigned  and  continued  in 
the  pastoral  work  up  to  the  year  before  his 
death,  filling  out  a  half  century  of  active  work. 
He  died  at  Courtland,  Ala.,  February  5,  1897. 

ESTIMATE  OF  LIFE  AND  WORK. 

Dr.  D.  C.  Kelley  has  contributed  the  fol- 
lowing testimonial:  "For  the  acquisition  of 
language  Dr.  Taylor  had  a  talent  so  marked 
as  to  approach  genius.  He  was  recognized  by 
both  Chinamen  and  missionaries  as  the  best 
master  of  the  spoken  language  in  Shanghai  at 
the  time  he  left  there.  When  we  remember 
the  markedly  distinguished  group  of  mission- 
aries in  that  station  then,  this  is  a  very  high 
compliment.  Dr.  Yates,  of  the  Baptist  Mis- 
sion, surpassed  him  possibly  in  speaking,  but 
Dr.  Taylor  not  only  spoke  easily,  but  had 
done  far  more  work  in  writing,  and  that  of 
the  best  quality.  His  excellent  common  sense 
led  him  to  publish  both  his  'Catechism'  and 
'Harmony  of  the  Gospels'  in  the  Shanghai 
colloquial  dialect.  Chinese  scholars  and  a  ma- 
jority of  the  missionaries  looked  upon  such  a 
work  at  that  date  with  the  same  contempt  (or 
even  greater)  that  the  scholars  of  the  fifteenth 


240  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

century  regarded  writing  in  the  spoken  dia- 
lect of  Europe.  Latin,  at  the  date  men- 
tioned, was  alone  held  to  be  fitting  for  use  by 
the  European  scholar.  Vung-Le  (classified 
Chinese)  was  held  in  the  very  highest  scho- 
lastic reverence  by  the  Chinese  and  pedantic 
foreign  students  in  the  earlier  years  of  mis- 
sionary effort." 

WISE  PIONEERING. 

To-day  a  very  large  majority  of  mission- 
aries recognize  the  value  of  pioneer  work  done 
by  Dr.  Taylor  in  his  publications,  as  well  as 
the  extrinsic  excellence  of  the  same.  His 
two  books  have  been  invaluable  through  all 
these  years  of  missionary  success,  and  his  ex- 
ample marked  the  line  along  which  our  most 
successful  work  has  been  done.  Not  in  this 
respect  alone  did  Dr.  Taylor  prove  his  fitness 
for  missionary  work.  He  chose  wisely  his 
place  of  residence,  and  began  along  what  ex- 
perience has  proved  to  be  the  best  path  of 
success — viz.,  combining  schools  and  medical 
work  with  preaching  the  word.  He  had  no 
means  in  hand,  as  other  missionaries  had,  to 
buy  and  build  a  church  in  the  city.;  so  he  placed' 
his  little  chapel  in  the  corner  of  his  yard,  near 


CHARLES  TAYLOR.  241 

a  bridge  which  concentrated  the  travel  be- 
tween the  city  and  certain  populous  regions 
of  the  country,  which  gave  him  the  next  best 
opportunity  for  work.  His  home  he  had  lo- 
cated in  the  midst  of  a  thickly  settled  Chinese 
neighborhood,  which  brought  him  in  daily 
contact  with  the  natives.  A  home  in  the  for- 
eign community  would  have  been  far  more 
pleasant  socially,  but  much  less  effective  for 
missionary  work. 

Dr.  Taylor's  warmth  of  heart  and  gentle- 
ness of  manner  gave  him  easy  access  to  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  whose  customs  are  all  of 
the  most  conservative  type.  He  was,  in  so- 
cial influence,  an  ideal  missionary.  No  man 
of  his  day  was  so  personally  attractive  to  the 
Chinaman.  His  style  of  preaching  was  on  the 
highest  Eastern  model — simple,  painstaking, 
full  of  illustrations,  tender,  without  self-asser- 
tion or  fiery  exhortation.  To  comprehend  all 
in  a  single  phrase,  missionary  work  in  such  a 
field  as  China  was  the  throne  of  his  power. 

It  is  only  when  one  studies  the  situation  in 
the  light  of  the  almost  insuperable  difficulties 
of  those  early  days  that  the  results  of  fifty 
years'  work  become  not  simply  apparent  but 
really  magnificent.  Beginning  with  nothing 
16 


242  GREAT  MISSIONARIES. 

in  1840  in  a  strange  city  and  in  a  heathen  land, 
almost  without  books,  and  unable  to  speak, 
read,  or  write  the  most  difficult  language  on 
earth,  we  can  review  the  achievements  of  our 
missionaries  and  say  with  Morse,  "Behold 
what  God  hath  wrought!" 

STATISTICS. 

In  this,  the  greatest  and  most  difficult  of  all 
mission  fields,  a  half  century  of  sowing  is  now 
to  be  followed  by  a  century  of  reaping. 

Organized  in  1886  into  an  Annual  Confer- 
ence, we  now  have:  Missionaries  (including 
wives),  33;  native  traveling  preachers,  15; 
members,  934  (deceased,  23);  Sunday  schools, 
29;  scholars,  1,712;  Ep worth  Leagues,  18; 
members,  599;  organized  Churches,  27; 
Churches  entirely  self-supporting,  3;  board- 
ing schools,  2;  pupils,  264;  day  schools,  8; 
pupils,  153;  hospital,  i;  dispensaries,  2;  pa- 
tients treated,  16,462;  total  collections,  $i,- 
416.55;  total  value  of  mission  property,  $195,- 
932.50- 


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